Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Neoplatonism'

Orientador : Trajano Augusto Ricca Vieira
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
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Resumo: Compõem esta tese de doutoramento a tradução dos vinte e sete tratados contidos nas Enéadas I, II e lU de Plotino, um estudo introdutório a aspectos estruturais, estilísticos e filosóficos de sua obra, e ainda a tradução da Vida de Platina, biografia redigida por Porfírio, discípulo, amigo e editor de Plotino
Abstract: This monograph is composed of the translation of the twenty seven treatises contained on Plotinus' Enneads I, II and lU, an introductory study on his works' structural, stylistic, and philosophical aspects, and also the translation of Life af Platinus, written by Porphyry, Plotinus' disciple, friend and editor
Doutorado
Doutor em Linguística

This thesis is a heuristic and argumentative study of the significance of Neoplatonism in the religious thought of the French Catholic revival of the seventeenth century. Taking the broad corpus of Neoplatonic thought - classical, patristic, mediaeval and, especially, that of the Florentine Renaissance - as its starting-point, it deals briefly with the reception and exploitation of Neoplatonic ideas by the French Humanists, before proceeding to consider the seminal influence of the cercle Acarie in the late sixteenth century. It is in this spiritual group of distinctly mystical bent that we discern the beginnings of a profound movement of religious thought greatly inspired by Neoplatonism, with its ultimate origins in the years predating the Reformation, and which continued to play an important part in seventeenth-century philosophy and theology. This Neoplatonic movement is exemplified by the Order of Capuchins and the Congregation de l'Oratoire, and the main part of the thesis concerns these two religious groups in which the continuity, consistency and, indeed, inescapability of the Neoplatonic tradition are readily apparent. Amongst the Capuchins, the development away from abstract mysticism towards more Humanistic apologetics directly influenced by the Florentines is charted. With regard to the Oratoire, we have attempted to illustrate and demonstrate its pervasive spirit established by its founder and the nature of the Neoplatonism of its members whose fundamental thought and spirituality were informed by Dionysian mysticism and Augustino-Platonic idealism; the problems raised by the thought of Descartes are also considered in our survey of later Oratorians. The final three chapters are devoted to Malebranche, Bossuet and Fenelon, respectively, three major thinkers of the seventeenth century who embody the philosophical, the Humanistic or apologetic and the mystical strains of Neoplatonism that we have identified and which we believe are essential to the Catholic reform of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

This thesis is primarily concerned with presenting the philosophical thought of Thomas Gallus (d. 1246). It is thus a contribution to the study of medieval philosophy. Proof is offered for Gallus's authorship of a set of Glosses on the Celestial Hierarchy contained in the Parisian manuscript, Bibliotheque Mazarine, MS 715. Two complete texts of Thomas Gallus (Qualiter vita prelatorum and Spectacula contemplationis) are edited and presented for the first time, as well as many portions of the unedited Explanatio. From these texts, a portrait of Gallus's philosophical views is depicted. On the basis of this presentation, the thesis then seeks to compare Gallus's thought (from the standpoint of the metaphysics of being, with supplementary reference to Thomas Aquinas) with that of Jean-Luc Marion (from the viewpoint of a phenomenology of giving). In particular, the thesis focuses on how the writings of the Pseudo-Dionysius have been received by these respectively pre-modem and postmodern figures. The question guiding this comparison is: Can either of these two modes of discourse allow philosophy the possibility to investigate the Other, where in this thesis the Other is considered under the name of God? Or does deconstruction (represented by the works of Jacques Derrida) prevent philosophy from having any access to the Other?

Partiendo de la metafísica neoplatónica, vemos cómo el hombre indaga en la reconversión al origen. Según dicha filosofía, el hombre se encuentra en lo más bajo del estatus, es decir, la materia como tercera hipóstasis. Utilizando la belleza intentará alcanzar en un movimiento ascendente dicho origen, de ahí que el hombre griego de la academia de Atenas busque la perfección en las diferentes obras artísticas, ya sea utilizando la proporción áurea en estructuras arquitectónicas o cánones de belleza en esculturas. Con la única finalidad de reconvertir la materia informe en principio espiritual, que es sinónimo de belleza. Belleza es, por tanto, el estado entre el uno y la primera hipóstasis, Afrodita, nacida de la fuente primigenia, que es Urano. Entre el Medievo y el pensamiento moderno surge un humanismo renacentista, un movimiento de transición en el desarrollo del pensamiento occidental que retoma textos clásicos y los reinterpreta, asimilando la cultura romana y la griega, lo cual facilita la aparición de la academia neoplatónica. Agrupada en torno a la figura de Masilio Ficino desarrolla una forma de pensar, nuevos sentimientos y aspiración ideal de la vida. De esta manera, surge la idea de que el amor genera movimientos del alma que dan lugar a la felicidad en la Tierra y después en la vida ultraterrenal. La escuela florentina se nutre de las enseñanzas neoplatónicas. El amor es el movimiento de reconversión y retorno de la materia, capaz de alejar al hombre de lo terrenal hacia etapas superiores. La alegoría de la primavera y El nacimiento de Venus representan dicha idea. Entre los siglos XVII-XIX se produce un cambio en la búsqueda del Dios. Aunque se sigue manteniendo una relación con la idea de lo divino, Kant anuncia un cambio. El dios griego entendido como finito toma una naturaleza infinita: ello se fundamenta en que la razón comprende la noción de infinito en la naturaleza y el alma. Y, en segundo lugar, en el Romanticismo, el Dios entendido por Kant como naturaleza infinita adquiere un papel de eterna revelación: primero, en la infinitud que se percibe en la naturaleza; después, en el espíritu finito y, por último, en Dios manifestado en lo más profundo de la naturaleza: a través de su lado más oscuro, reflejado en leyendas e imágenes alucinadas del inconsciente humano. Finalmente, el Dios entendido como símbolo artístico e idea, en su capacidad de crear múltiples singulares, utilizando al sujeto para manifestarse en toda su plenitud, de forma ilimitada. Artistas como Velázquez desarrollan símbolos sublimes que no agotan sus posibilidades y que siempre son abiertos, claro ejemplo del proceso manifiesto del Dios creador e inagotable. De ahí que la grandeza del artista sea formular símbolos e ideas con capacidad de posibilitar singulares de reflexión, acción o sensibilidad estética.

Until recently, the period of Late Antiquity had been largely regarded as a sterile age of irrationality and of decline in science. This pioneering work, supported by first-hand study of primary sources, argues that this opinion is profoundly mistaken. It focuses in particular on Proclus, the head of the Platonic School at Athens in the 5th c. AD, and the chief spokesman for the ideas of the dominant school of thought of that time, Neoplatonism. Part I, divided into two Sections, is an introductory guide to Proclus' philosophical and cosmological system, its general principles and its graded ordering of the states of existence. Part II concentrates on his physical theories on the Elements and the celestial bodies, in Sections A and B respectively, with chapters (or sub-sections) on topics including the structure, properties and motion of the Elements; light; space and matter; the composition and motion of the celestial bodies; and the order of planets. The picture that emerges from the study is that much of the Aristotelian physics, so prevalent in Classical Antiquity, was rejected. The concepts which were developed instead included the geometrization of matter, the four-Element composition of the universe, that of self-generated, free motion in space for the heavenly bodies, and that of immanent force or power. Furthermore, the desire to provide for a systematic unity in explanation, in science and philosophy, capable of comprehending the diversity of entities and phenomena, yielded the Neoplatonic notion that things are essentially modes or states of existence, which can be arranged in terms of a causal gradation and described accordingly. Proclus, above anyone else, applied it as a scientific method systematically. Consequently, that Proclus' physical thought is embedded in his Neoplatonic philosophy is not viewed as something regrettable, but as proof of his consistent adherence to the belief, that there must be unity in explanation, just as there is one in the universe, since only the existence of such unity renders the cosmos rational and makes certainty in science attainable.

El trabajo explora la inclusión de relatos—a modo de ejemplos, parábolas y fábulas—en el tejido histórico-narrativo de los Comentarios reales del cronista mestizo Garcilaso de la Vega. Propone, en tal sentido, la deuda con la filosofía neoplatónica que busca verdades escondidas en las fábulas de los gentiles, es decir, los mitos greco-latinos, en los que cree encontrar verdades o sentidos escondidos, de distinto calibre, sea este el sentido literal, moral o teologal que estos relatos incrustados entrañen. Así, en un contrapunto entre las dos partes de los Comentarios reales, los mitos incaicos y otras historias son analizadas como fábulas clásicas y neoplatónicas, es decir, preñadas de diversos sentidos, sugeridos por su autor a sus lectores de todos los tiempos.
This article explores the inclusion of small tales—as examples, parables and fables—within the textual fabric of the historical text of the Royal Commentariesby the mestizo writer Garcilaso de la Vega. It proposes the idea of classical fable in the sense developed by Neoplatonism during the Renaissance. According to these perspective Classical mythology was understood as embedded with hidden senses of different caliber—literal, moral and theological ones. In the same way, I study Inca myths and other tales as classical fables embedded with different meanings, suggested by Garcilaso Inca to his readers from all times.

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Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Theurgy, the action of the gods during the ritual acts, a practice incorporated, in late Antiquity, by the philosophical school of Iamblichus as a techné which conducts to, considered at that time, the ultimate experience of Philosophy become like the gods (homóiosis théo) , had influenced and determined the course of the entire Neoplatonism until the end of the ancient Academy. In the work De Mysteriis, which has long been considered irrational , Iamblichus, under the pseudonym of an Egyptian priest, structures the philosophical foundations of the theurgic art, covering topics such as: oracles, possessions, prophetic dreams, divine manifestations in general. The present dissertation aims at a reassessment and rereading of the work based on recent publications of the author s collected philosophical fragments, as well as academic studies derived from them. Through a careful disentangling of the threads of his narrative, an analysis of the first three Books of the work is made, erecting the philosophical foundations of divine manifestations and of the efficacy of the ritual. It exposes thus the argumentation regarding the theurgic art, demonstrating an innovative, complex and syncretic system, nicely elaborated in a high philosophical erudition of his time. It concludes the revised reading of the first three Books and their philosophical foundations of Theurgy, in order to justify the redemption of the depreciated status of the work, pointing also to a new appraisal and repositioning of Iamblichus as a key-element author, in the history of philosophy, to the whole tradition of philosophical foundations of mystical revelations in various later philosophical currents of neoplatonic heritage, until the end of the Renaissance
Teurgia, a ação dos deuses durante os atos ritualísticos, uma prática incorporada, na Antiguidade tardia, pela escola filosófica de Jâmblico como uma techné que conduz à, então considerada, experiência última da Filosofia tornar-se como os deuses (homóiosis théo) , influenciou e determinou o rumo de todo o Neoplatonismo subsequente, até o fim da Academia antiga. Na obra De Mysteriis, que há muito vem sendo considerada irracional , Jâmblico, sob o pseudônimo de um sacerdote egípcio, estrutura os fundamentos filosóficos da arte teúrgica, abordando temas como: oráculos, possessões, sonhos proféticos, manifestações divinas em geral. A presente dissertação visa a uma revisão e releitura da obra embasada nas recentes publicações dos recolhidos fragmentos filosóficos do autor, bem como decorrentes estudos acadêmicos. Por meio de um cuidadoso desembaraçar dos fios de sua narrativa analisam-se os três primeiros Livros da obra, erigindo os fundamentos filosóficos das manifestações divinas e da eficácia do ritual. Expõe-se, assim, a argumentação referente a arte teúrgica, evidenciando um inovador, complexo e sincrético sistema, muito bem elaborado em uma alta erudição filosófica de sua época. Conclui-se a revisada leitura dos três primeiros Livros e seus fundamentos filosóficos da Teurgia, de forma a justificar a redenção do status depreciado da obra, apontando, ainda, uma nova avaliação e reposicionamento de Jâmblico como autor, na história da filosofia, elemento-chave de toda uma tradição de fundamentos filosóficos sobre revelações místicas, em diversas correntes filosóficas posteriores de herança neoplatônica, até o fim da Renascença

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This thesis aims better understanding the relation between time and evil in Schelling s Freiheitsschrift, having its starting point in approximations from Gnosticism. For that purpose, before approaching that relation, it is reviewed (chapter I) the question of Gnosticism, a strain of thought essentially concerned with the problem of time and permeated by the belief in an evil nature of creation, and which is alleged to have significantly influenced certain ideas of Schelling. An evaluation of approximations between Gnosticism, gnosis and German thought follows (chapter II), as well as an evaluation of Schellingian aproximations to Gnosticism (chapter III). Then, the Freiheitsschrift is analysed as the text where Schelling, having taken hold of a very distinct appropriation of Gnosticism, goes beyond Kantian theodicy (chapter IV). Some interrogations about whether key ideas of Schellingian philosophy (about gnosis, creation, duality, time, and evil) are conceived in a way that is essentially different from that of historic Gnosticism, despite the much that has been said to the contrary, are then addressed (chapter V). The proposal of a Platonic-Plotinian key to the understanding of the relations between time and evil in the Freiheitsschrift comes next (chapter VI), and then gives way to the concluding remarks (chapter VII). We perceive that Gnosticism and Neoplatonism are systems of thought that sometimes converge, and that German thought is one of the places of this convergence. Notwithstanding this perception, it is possible to affirm that Schellingian thought, with its valorization of time and of a certain perception of evil, is essentially anti-gnostic, despite some contrary observations
Esta tese objetiva contribuir para um melhor entendimento da rela??o entre o tempo e o mal no Freiheitsschrift de Schelling, a partir de aproxima??es desde o Gnosticismo. Para tanto, antes de come?ar a tratar dessa rela??o far-se-? uma revis?o da quest?o do Gnosticismo (cap?tulo I) corrente de pensamento essencialmente preocupada com a problem?tica do tempo e permeada pela cren?a em uma natureza m? da cria??o, e que alegadamente teria influenciado de modo significativo algumas ideias de Schelling. Seguir-se-? uma avalia??o das aproxima??es entre Gnosticismo, gnose e pensamento alem?o (cap?tulo II) e outra particularmente dedicada ?s aproxima??es schellinguianas ao Gnosticismo (cap?tulo III). Analisar-se-? ent?o o Freiheitsschrift como texto onde Schelling, tendo feito uma apropria??o muito particular do Gnosticismo, vai al?m da teodic?ia kantiana (cap?tulo IV). Interrogar-se ? ent?o (cap?tulo V) se algumas ideiaschave da filosofia schellinguiana (sobre a gnose, a cria??o, a dualidade, o tempo, o mal) s?o concebidas de um modo essencialmente distinto daquele do Gnosticismo hist?rico, apesar do muito que se disse em contr?rio. Apresentar-se-? em seguida a proposta de uma chave Plat?nica-plotiniana para o entendimento das rela??es entre o tempo e o mal no Freiheitsschrift (cap?tulo VI), passando-se logo em seguida ?s considera??es conclusivas (cap?tulo VII). Constata-se que o Gnosticismo e o Neoplatonismo constituem sistemas por vezes convergentes entre si, e que o pensamento alem?o ? um dos espa?os dessa converg?ncia. N?o obstante essa constata??o, ? poss?vel afirmar que o pensamento schellinguiano, com sua valoriza??o do tempo e de uma certa percep??o do mal, ? essencialmente antign?stico, a despeito de algumas observa??es em contr?rio

The metaphysical poetry of the English Romantics is characterised by an interest in esoteric wisdom, and the exploration of Hinduism and Neoplatonism during the period formed a significant part of this 'abstruse research'. This thesis will investigate the role of two central strands of 'Romantic esotericism', Neoplatonism and Hinduism, in the work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley, and examine how it is manifested in their poetry, philosophy and expression of visionary experience and spiritual transcendence. This study considers the way in which Coleridge and Shelley drew upon the ideas, symbols, mythology, theology and philosophy contained in the earliest English translations of Hindu sacred texts and Thomas Taylor's Neoplatonic translations, during their poetic explorations of transcendental experience. It will demonstrate how this material was a significant source of inspiration to both Coleridge and Shelley when formulating their own poetic vocabulary capable of expressing the ineffable divine. The first chapter deals with the early influence of Hinduism and Neoplatonism on Coleridge's poetic output from 1793-1802, and the second chapter considers his shifting response from this point onwards, which coincides with his poetic development and the apparent loss of his former visionary insight. His expression of visionary experience in his early work is evidently influenced by both Hindu and Neoplatonic texts and, despite his later criticism, Coleridge continues to make use of their 'symbolic potential' before dismissing them entirely in his later years. Shelley shares Coleridge's preoccupation with the esoteric unknown and the final chapter examines the influence of Hinduism and Taylor's Neoplatonic translations, as well as the symbolic legacy of Coleridge, on Shelley's poetical explorations of visionary pursuit and divine insight. Like Coleridge, Shelley synthesises Neoplatonic and Hindu influences to create his own divine symbolism, and both poets were greatly inspired by their engagement with these ancient traditions.

"El origen de los rangos de la jerarquía celestial" es un estudio sobre las clasificaciones y ordenaciones de los rangos del intelecto divino inspiradas en el diálogo “Parménides” de Platón. Por tanto, no se trata de una obra teológica, sino de la influencia de la dialéctica de dicho diálogo en la teología, primero pagana y después cristiana. El presente estudio se enmarcaría en la disciplina denominada noética, que estudia los desarrollos del concepto de intelecto o “noûs” en la filosofía antigua y medieval. El estudio cubre un período de aproximadamente diez siglos, que van desde las primeras concepciones del intelecto en el siglo V a.C., sobre todo de Anaxágoras, Platón y Aristóteles, hasta las últimas clasificaciones de los distintos tipos de divinidades intelectuales de la obra de los últimos filósofos neoplatónicos, sobre todo Proclo de Licia y Pseudo Dionisio Areopagita. La tesis consta de tres partes, en la primera parte se aborda la cuestión relativa al concepto de intelecto en la filosofía clásica griega, el “noûs” es un concepto que fue variando según las escuelas y corrientes filosóficas que abordaban la cuestión relativa al conocimiento. La segunda parte trata de la utilización de la dialéctica en la teología, en particular, en la determinación del papel del intelecto en el proceso de conocimiento; y en la tercera parte se aborda la utilización de la teología dialéctica para la deducción y clasificación de los rangos de la jerarquía de seres espirituales, considerados intelectos, que se encuentran entre el hombre y Dios, según la concepción del cristianismo. En general se trata de un estudio sobre la filosofía Neoplatónica de inspiración en el diálogo Parménides. El estudio se centra en la terminología dialéctica utilizada por Parménides y luego por Platón, las objeciones a la dialéctica por parte de Aristóteles, y sobre todo, en los fundamentos metafísicos de la obra de Plotino y de Proclo de Licia, y la cristianización de la teología platónica de Proclo por parte de Pseudo Dionisio Areopagita, mostrando como el cristianismo iba asimilando determinados aspectos de la filosofía especulativa de los grandes maestros de la antigüedad clásica y helenística. La tesis destaca dos notas fundamentales del concepto de noûs – intelecto su naturaleza “separada” y “celeste”. Plotino intuyó la existencia del Uno, más allá de lo inteligible y del ser, a partir de las dos primeras hipótesis del diálogo Parménides de Platón. Este diálogo es una demostración de dialéctica diaíretica, por medio de distintas hipótesis. De la primera hipótesis surge un primer “Uno” por vía de las negaciones – apóphasis. Y el segundo uno-múltiple, asociado por Plotino con el Intelecto, surgía por la vía de las afirmaciones – katáphasis – de los atributos del ser. Para el Neoplatonismo la realidad está constituida por estas dos hipóstasis y el Alma, y la ciencia que permite alcanzar el conocimiento de las dos hipóstasis superiores es la dialéctica, en forma de discurso teológico, bien katafático que permite contemplar el proceso de conocimiento tal como se da en el universo divino, bien apofático que permite saltar directamente al primer principio supra-esencial e inefable, y producir una experiencia unitiva y mística con el Sólo, que se encuentra más allá del Intelecto. La última clasificación de la Jerarquía Celestial es la de Pseudo Dionisio Areopagita, cuya obra, el Corpus Areopagiticum, sigue el esquema de la Teología Platónica de Proclo. Dionisio es un teólogo cristiano interesado en cristianizar la obra de Proclo, en particular, la Teología Platónica. Los tres rangos de la Jerarquía Celestial descritos en el Corpus guardan una estrecha relación con los tres rangos de intelectos divinos de Proclo.
"The origin of ranks in the celestial hierarchy" is a study of the classifications and ordinations of divine intellect ranges inspired in the Plato’s dialogue "Parmenides”. Therefore, it is not a theological work, but a study of the dialectics’ influence in the later theology, first pagan and then Christian. This study is included in the discipline called Noetic, which studies the development of the intellect concept - "noûs" - in ancient and medieval philosophy. The study covers a period of about ten centuries: from the first conceptions of the intellect in the V century BC, especially Anaxagoras, Plato and Aristotle, to the latest rankings of the last Neoplatonic philosophers with several kinds of intellectual gods, especially Proclus of Lycia and Pseudo Dionysius. The thesis consists of three parts. The first part deals with the concept of intellect in classical Greek philosophy, the "noûs" is a concept that has been changing with schools and philosophical currents that addressed the question of knowledge. The second part deals with the use of dialectic in theology, in particular, in determining the intellect role in the knowledge process. And the third part deals with the use of dialectical theology for the deduction and ranks hierarchy classification of spiritual beings, considered intellects that could be found between man and God, according to the Christianity conception. It is a study of Platonic philosophy, particularly Neoplatonism inspired in the dialogue "Parmenides". The study focuses on the dialectic terminology used by Parmenides and Plato, the objections to the dialectic by Aristotle, especially the metaphysical basis of Plotinus and Proclus of Lycia works, and finally the Christianization of Proclus Platonic Theology by Pseudo Dionysius, showing how Christianity was assimilating certain aspects of the classical antiquity and Hellenistic great masters speculative philosophy.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
In Proclus, the delphic adage “gnothi seauton” reached the status of the fundamental principle of philosophy, according to two perspectives: theoretical and practical. From the theoretical point of view, and in answer to the Skeptical challenge to representative knowledge in its subject-object duality, the neoplatonic tradition carried out a considerable deepening of the philosophical reflexion on self-reflectivity or conversion to one’s self (epistrophê pros eauton), thus inaugurating a form of “turn to the subject” as philosophical method. From the practical point of view, self-knowledge constituted a true spiritual path of self-care, leading the soul from a natural and irreflected condition to a life of philosophical piety and self-transformation, culminating in the soul’s deification through union to the Divine. To this end, in the neoplatonic schools of this period, a formalization of the gradual process of the soul’s education takes place, delineating in the form of a ladder of virtues and sciences, the various levels of the path to be pursued until the soul’s ascension into the beatitude of assimilation to deity. Underlying these two perspectives is a comprehension of the core of the soul, its pure indeterminate existence (huparxis), as being deiform, in such a way that upon it depends both the possibility of true knowledge, in the form of intellectual intuition (noesis), and the possibility of beatitude, in the form of love (eros). To actualize them is the purpose of the ascesis to which the platonic philosopher dedicates himself. This dissertation aims at hypothetically reconstructing, based on Proclus, this path of self-knowledge in Late Neoplatonism, starting with an investigation upon its roots in greek religion, Plato and Plotinus
Em Proclo, a máxima délfica “gnothi seauton” alcançou o estatuto de princípio fundamental da filosofia, segundo duas perspectivas: teórica e prática. Do ponto de vista teórico, em resposta ao desafio do Ceticismo ao conhecimento representativo em sua dualidade sujeito-objeto, a tradição neoplatônica levou a cabo um considerável aprofundamento da reflexão filosófica sobre a autorreflexividade ou conversão a si mesmo (epistrophê pros eauton), inaugurando assim uma forma própria de “virada ao sujeito” como método filosófico. Do ponto de vista prático, o conhecimento de si constituía um verdadeiro caminho espiritual de cuidado de si, conduzindo a alma de uma condição natural e irrefletida para uma vida de piedade filosófica e transformação de si, culminando na deificação da alma em união ao Divino. Para este fim, há nas escolas neoplatônicas deste período uma formalização de um processo gradual de educação da alma, delineando, sob a forma de uma escada de virtudes e saberes, os vários níveis do caminho a serem percorridos por ela em sua ascensão até à bem-aventurança da assimilação à divindade. Subjacente às duas perspectivas está uma compreensão do cerne da alma, sua pura existência indeterminada (huparxis), como sendo deiforme, de modo que dele depende tanto a possibilidade do conhecimento verdadeiro, sob a forma de intuição intelectual (noesis), quanto a possibilidade da bem-aventurança, sob a forma do amor (eros). Atualizá-las é o propósito da ascese a que se dedica o filósofo platônico. Esta dissertação busca reconstruir hipoteticamente, a partir de Proclo, este caminho de autoconhecimento do Neoplatonismo Tardio, partindo de uma investigação de suas raízes na religião grega, em Platão e em Plotino

Thesis advisor: Stephen Brown
This thesis is intended as a complement to Fr. Ernest Fortin’s Christianisme et culture philosophique. In that work, he examined the De statu animae of Claudianus Mamertus and its affinity to the thought of the Neoplatonic philosophers (especially Porphyry) in order to make its doctrine more clear. But he also looked at it to see the greatness of philosophical spirit that its author possessed, a remarkable spirit considering the time in which he wrote. Though Fr. Fortin’s work is quite thorough, there are some aspects of the De statu animae that are treated only slightly or not at all. This thesis aims at filling out some of them. The thesis first considers the difficulty of the philosophical question discussed in the work: the incorporeality of the human soul. Among the many difficulties which this question raises is one raised by Faustus of Riez, against whom Claudianus is writing, namely, that of conceiving an incorporeal creature without confounding it with God. It then considers the historical context, both political and philosophical, in which Claudianus lived and wrote. In particular, it brings out the influence of the Emperor Julian in his efforts to replace Christianity with pagan philosophy (especially as influenced by Porphyry and Iamblichus), and his connection with the intellectual life in Gaul. This it does to put into relief the magnanimity of a Christian writer who could look to the philosophy that most influenced the most ardent opponents of Christianity and see in it an ally rather than an enemy. Faustus regarded the philosophers as enemies because he thought them, in their reasonings, to have raised the soul to the dignity of its Creator. Of the philosophers open to this charge of impiety, it is, perhaps, most aptly laid upon the Platonists. A tendency in this direction appears in Plato, and reaches something of an apex in the thought of Plotinus. In Plato’s writings, it appears especially in the Phaedo, which Claudinaus quotes at length in the Second Book. The thesis looks at this dialogue to bring into relief this tendency in the work, and then compares it to Ennead V.1 to show that Plotinus takes the considerations in that dialogue and follows them out to show the kinship between the soul and the divine. Against this background, there are a couple of aspects of De statu animae that emerge. The first is the importance of seeing the soul as a middle being between God and bodily creatures. The second is the importance of seeing the soul as the imago Dei. Claudianus, in spite of his rhetoric, saw the seriousness of the difficulty raised by Faustus, and his work can be read, especially in the First Book, as an attempt to raise the mind of the reader from the fleshy world of sensation to the more beautiful, true, and good world of the spirit. The thesis argues that though the work is polemical, and so formed somewhat in the order of Faustus’s own arguments, Claudianus has worked that order to his own end; this can be seen in his use of the word status. This word is taken from Faustus, who uses it in his letter to name the nature of the soul. Claudianus, without leaving behind that sense, uses it to bring out the importance of understanding the soul’s nature through understanding its standing in the order of beings. His arguments are meant to help the reader to do just that. He first establishes that the world would be more perfect if there were an incorporeal creature, then he argues that there is in fact such a creature, and finally how it is possible for there to be such a creature. In doing so, he relies on ideas of the Neoplatonists, and especially Iamblichus, who looked at the soul as a middle being in order to see it as, one the one hand, less than the beings of the intelligible order, and yet superior to those of the sensible order. It is in this notion of the soul as a middle being that Claudianus finds an account for the changeableness of the soul without relying on matter. To show this, he invokes a distinction among motions: stable, in time, and in time and place. The first belongs to God, the second to the soul, and the last to bodies. This distinction arises from the fact that God is above all the categories of Aristotle, bodies are subject to them all, but the soul is subject only to some. In this way, the soul can be seen to undergo qualitative change, or changes in its affections, without suffering change in place. Thus, though not a body, it is nevertheless subject to change of some sort. And so, though superior to bodies, it falls short of the perfection of its Creator. But running throughout this discussion is the notion of image. And at the end of the book, its importance emerges. When Claudianus turns to a consideration of our act of knowing, the nature of the soul becomes more clear. When the soul turns its attention from bodies to look at itself, what it sees is an image of God, Who is incorporeal. And so, it sees, if it can free itself from the seductions of the images of bodies it has drawn in through the senses, that it is incorporeal. Here he reveals to the reader more fully what he has been trying to do. He has been working to turn the eye of the mind from the world of sensation to look at itself in itself, for if it does this, it will see itself as the imago Dei, and thus incorporeal. In this last aspect of the work especially, we can see the influence of Iamblichus, who, as Carlos Steel has shown, came to conceive of the soul as the image of Intellect precisely to establish it as a middle being between Intellect and the material world. It is an image so that it can be both like and unlike its exemplar. It understands (or more precisely, reasons) and so is like Intellect. But it does so by introducing order into its thoughts so that though always thinking (like Intellect), it moves from one thought to the next. Thus, it introduces time into the world. In this way, it departs from Intellect and becomes subject to change, though not in place. Claudianus recognizes in this a way of conceiving of the soul as incorporeal, therefore like God, and yet subject to change in time, therefore unlike Him, and so a creature. And so he comes to see the soul, in its essence to be the image of its Creator. Claudianus, in his refutation of Faustus, has raised the minds of his readers to lofty heights. Following the teachings of the Platonists, to whom his friend Sidonius likens him in everything except his garb, he has purged his mind from the entrapments of the corporeal world, has raised it to the pure world of being, and found himself a part of it. But those he has followed had been, either directly or indirectly, ardent foes of the faith which he professed and to which he had given his life. Porphyry had composed a work attacking Christianity; and Iamblichus, through his disciples, had inspired Julian with a devotion to the pagan gods that led him to attack the Church both in his writings and in his political endeavors. But unlike Faustus and others like him, he saw a harmony between his faith and his philosophy that gave him confidence that the natural light of reason and the light of revelation could work together to unite his soul to its Beginning, which is also his End
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Philosophy

This thesis project surrounds the life of sixteenth-century poet Vittoria Colonna, and the poetry she wrote following the death of her husband Ferrante D’Avalos, Marquis of Pescara, in 1525. Often regarded in tandem with the works of Michelangelo, Vittoria Colonna’s literary accomplishments in the face of personal tragedy speak for themselves as she became one of the foremost female poets of her time. Beyond her relationship with Michelangelo, the surrounding literature on Colonna looks at her widowhood as a stage for her poetry, her use of Neoplatonist imagery, and the influence of the Petrarchan sonnet. Expanding on the arguments presented by scholars Abigail Brundin and Virginia Cox, who are the foundation for my research with their thorough understanding of these connective elements, my thesis explores how Colonna actively used gender and grief specifically within her widowed poetry to pursue social and spiritual transcendence through a comparison of primary texts. In merging these elements together, I find that Colonna complicates the role of the female widow. She uses her widow’s grief as a tool to remain within the lines of social propriety while also seeking personal freedom. Benefitting from her performance of what Erasmus calls a “true” widow, Colonna presented her grief within the parameters of social expectation but provided a way to break free from them. Within this public space, Colonna’s complicated relationship with gender comes into play as she uses it to her advantage to transcend socially through subversions of Petrarchan convention, while also dismissing gender entirely through Neoplatonism in order to transcend spiritually. In this, Colonna maintains a complex widowhood as she both fulfills and dismantles the boundaries set in place for her, finding a sense of freedom within the blurred lines of propriety.

This thesis explores the theology and philosophy, metaphysics and mystical approach to life as 'being and gift' in the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. As a popular writer of fantasy, it is my hypothesis that he developed in that fantasy a radical metaphysics of giftedness in created being, in that all creation participates and subsists in the One, and yet demonstrates a freedom in its subjectivity apart from the One. There is none of the fatalism in Tolkien's world which he encountered in key texts such as Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon psyche, and a corollary of human being in Tolkien's world implies freedom from both theological and corporeal determinism. 1 have explored and assessed the extent to which Tolkien utilised various forms of Christian Neoplatonism, influenced as they are by the Platonic and Aristotelian classical traditions, alongside Old and Middle English texts which were available to him in his professional career. In particular, I have made significant connections between Tolkien's cosmogonic drama in his creation myth and the musica universalis tradition of Latin writers such as Augustine, Boethius and Aquinas. As such, I have demonstrated that for Tolkien. materiality is not a lapsus or declension from some transcendent Godhead, but a divine extravagance in its gratuitous emanation. As Tolkien was writing as a Catholic, it shall be demonstrated that his use of 1 homism reflects the twentieth century theological revision, inspired by Jacques Maritain and his contemporaries. Furthermore, I have sought to demonstrate how Tolkien's more mystical episodes are inspired by sources which were used also by John Scottus Eriugena, alongside Alfred Siewers' reading of them. Tolkien's own published, unpublished, and posthumously published works, comprise a deep well of inspiration and, given the near absence of supporting scholarly material associated with them, then this thesis relies significantly upon those primary sources.

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The aim of the present dissertation constitutes to analyse the way in how light assumes the meaning of universal bond in the cosmovision of Marsilio Ficino, especially from his works Quid sit lumen, De Sole, De Amore and De Vita. The influence of Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) in the history of occidental thought is impressive. Besides having translated to Latin the important texts of the neoplatonic tradition, Ficino presided over the Academy of Careggi, congregating important humanists in the top of the Renaissance. His treatises on love, beauty, light, magic and immortality of the soul have influenced strongly the production of other thinkers. The subject of light is of fundamental importance among his works since it is deeply related with all the other aspects of his philosophy. For him, light is spiritual emanation that perpasses everything without staining itself. Originated how the divine goodness, the light blows up in beauty in multiplicity, setting fire on the soul that truily contemplates it and that identifies whith it. The starting point of this loving relation between man and deity is, therefore, the physical world, that occults in itself the metaphysical light.
O objetivo da presente disserta??o constitui analisar como a luz assume o sentido de v?nculo universal na cosmovis?o de Marsilio Ficino, especialmente a partir de suas obras Quid sit lumen, De Sole, De Amore e De Vita. A influ?ncia de Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) na hist?ria do pensamento ocidental ? impressionante. Al?m de ter traduzido para o latim textos importantes da tradi??o neoplat?nica, Ficino presidiu a Academia de Careggi, reunindo importantes humanistas no auge do Renascimento. Os seus tratados sobre amor, beleza, luz, magia e imortalidade da alma influenciaram marcantemente a produ??o de outros pensadores. O tema da luz ? de import?ncia fundamental em sua obra, pois est? profundamente relacionado com todos os outros aspectos de sua filosofia. Para ele, a luz ? ema??o espiritual que a tudo perpassa, sem se macular. Originada da bondade divina, a luz explode em beleza na multiplicidade, incendiando de amor a alma que verdadeiramente a contempla e que com ela se identifica. O ponto de partida dessa rela??o amorosa entre homem e divindade. ?, portanto, o mundo f?sico, que oculta em si a luz metaf?sica.

My thesis seeks to offer a literary comparison of Andrew Marvell’s poems A Dialogue, between the Resolved Soul and Created Pleasure, A Dialogue Between the Soul and the Body, and On a Drop of Dew and the works of the seventeenth century English theologians the Cambridge Platonists– namely Benjamin Whichcote (1609-1683), Peter Sterry (1621-1678), Henry More (1614-1687), and John Sherman (?-1671). The question at its heart is not simply to assess the extent of their congeniality, but to determine how effectively the work of the Cambridge Platonists functions as a framework for the interpretation of Marvell’s poems. The thesis, therefore, hopes to validate two claims. The first, made by Pierre Legouis in 1928 but never fully substantiated, is that Marvell’s Platonist tendencies stem from his seven years at Cambridge, which are ascribed to the preaching of Whichcote and Sherman. The second, is Harold E. Toliver’s suggestion in 1965 that Marvell, like the Cambridge group, rejects lower links in the great chain for the autonomy of the soul. As proving that the Cambridge Platonists influenced Marvell is very difficult, this central contention is tested using both an ‘analogical’ and ‘genealogical’ method. Part I explores aspects of Marvell’s life where he may have been exposed to both Neoplatonist and Christian Neoplatonists writers, as well as direct interactions he shared with members of the Cambridge Platonists. Part I will predominantly focus on three aspects of Marvell’s life. First, the influence Marvell’s father, Reverend Marvell had on his son. Second, Marvell’s education at Hull Grammar. Third, Marvell’s sociable interactions at Cambridge and as Latin Secretary to Oliver Cromwell. Part I will use Foucault’s work What is an Author? and The Archaeology of Knowledge as a literary framework to ‘suspend typical’ questions, which are largely ignored in Marvell scholarship. Part II presents a sustained interpretation of two key theological themes in Marvell’s poetry– the function of the soul, and the structure of nature and the corporeal world– using Peter Sterry’s Sermons and Henry More’s Philosophical Poems. I will suggest that a close comparative reading of Marvell and these two members of the Cambridge Platonists reveals three similarities. First, Marvell like More, rejects nominalism, and instead seeks a doctrine of moral realism. Second, similarly to Sterry, Marvell represents the soul as functioning as a conduit of divine knowledge, which must distance itself from materiality. Third, much like Sherman, More, and Sterry, Marvell describes the soul as having to awaken from its bodily unconsciousness of the corporeal world via knowledge and reason to achieve its cycle back to God.

This thesis examines the life and thought of the influential Melbourne organist, teacher and music critic, Arthur Ernest Howard Nickson (1876-1964). Born in Melbourne, Nickson studied in England on the Clarke Scholarship at the Royal College of Music (1895-1899). During his studies in England, Nickson experienced the Catholic revival in the Church of England at its height. On his return to Australia in 1901 Nickson’s activities as a church musician, and later, as a teacher provided the platform for him to articulate views that were formed as a result of these influences. Beginning in 1904, Nickson’s 56-year career as a lecturer at the University Of Melbourne Conservatorium Of Music is important, as every student had to pass through his lectures at some point in their course. As music critic at the Age from 1927, Nickson played a decisive role in shaping public taste at the time of the establishment of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Heinze, who was also Ormond Professor of Music at the University of Melbourne (1926-57). Nickson’s essays form a distinct group of writings that are probably unique in Australia. The main published essays cover a forty-year period beginning in 1905, and show the development of Nickson’s thinking about the moral basis and spiritual nature of music, his views on the nature of the Church, and his worldview, based on Neoplatonic philosophy, which shaped his thinking about the process of creation. While Nickson’s view of the created order was shaped by Neoplatonic influences, his view of the redemptive function of art was expressed in terms of sacramental theology, and was related very closely to his Anglo-Catholicism. In his essays and lectures Nickson frequently worked with an abstracted concept of ‘Art’, rather than specific art objects. While reference was made to art objects, it is not clear how Nickson defined the term ‘artist’. Nickson’s attention in his discussions of ‘Art’ tended to focus on the artist, rather than the object. This was a result of his world view, which saw art objects as an emanation from the personality of the artist; this necessitated the cultivation of a disposition of mind, which was enabled by the acquisition of mystical intuition. While his description of the fine arts as consisting of architecture, sculpture, painting, poetry and music was in line with older views of art, his views on the artist are difficult to discern, which raises the question of whether Nickson saw himself as an artist. Clearly his vocation was not as a composer, as the discussion of his mass settings in Chapter 3 will demonstrate, while as an organ teacher he was more interested in interpretation than in the mechanics of playing the instrument. This thesis falls into two broad sections. The first three chapters seek to provide an adequate biography of Nickson, which has never previously been done. The fourth chapter examines Nickson’s worldview and the implications this had for his thinking about music, and falls into two parts. The first part follows Nickson’s worldview as it was expressed in his essays, and focuses attention on the concept of art as a process of sign making. The manner in which this sign making is understood is essential to its function, and in Nickson’s writings three understandings emerge: symbol, metaphor and sacrament. The second part of the discussion examines Nickson’s articulation of his worldview in relation to music, which he considered to be the most divine of the arts, drawing on lecture notes, student reminiscences and Nickson’s own. Nickson’s central claim was that art is a sacrament. This can be seen in relation to his faith, where the regular use of the Church’s sacraments was central. This claim is challenged by statements Nickson made about the faith of composers such as Beethoven and Bach. This raises questions about sacramental efficacy when applied to art, and some limitations implicit in viewing art as a sacrament. It will be argued that Nickson conceived of artistic creation as fundamentally a process of sign making. The sign may be regarded as a symbol, metaphor or sacrament, and the process of creating the sign reflects God’s own creative activity in human creative acts. Nickson conceived of human creative action as having a redemptive character, bringing the artist into closer unity with the godhead. This union was the ultimate aim of art, being the act of redemption that paralleled the union brought about by such sacraments as the Eucharist. This term also points to some tensions in Nickson’s worldview, where he expressed a view of the creation of the material world as being both a dynamic, continuing activity of emanation from God, and a single action of the will of God, such as the creation account of Genesis.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007.
Title from electronic title page (viewed Dec. 18, 2007). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Religious Studies." Discipline: Religious Studies; Department/School: Religious Studies.

This thesis examines the life and thought of the influential Melbourne organist, teacher and music critic, Arthur Ernest Howard Nickson (1876-1964). Born in Melbourne, Nickson studied in England on the Clarke Scholarship at the Royal College of Music (1895-1899). During his studies in England, Nickson experienced the Catholic revival in the Church of England at its height...

This thesis analyses Edmund Spenser&rsquo
s Fowre Hymnes in light of the holistic Renaissance world view and poet&rsquo
s collection of various tradition of ideas. Spenser&rsquo
s treatment of love is explored as the cosmic principle of harmony. Universal order is examined with an emphasis on the position of man in the ontological hierarchy. Thus, this thesis investigates Spenser&rsquo
s own suggestions to imitate macrocosmic harmony and order in the microcosmic level.

The early 9th century Carolingian manuscript of the Epistola Anne ad Senecam was discovered by B. Bischoff in the Archiepiscopal library of Cologne and published by him 1984. It is a short, incomplete Latin text of some ninety lines that Bischoff identified as a late antique Jewish missionsschrift addressed to certain unidentified fratres. There is little agreement in the current literature on the identity of the author or the addressee(s), nor on the date of its composition, and it has been proposed that the text is in fact Christian. The titulus has been taken as a later interpolation with no relation to the work. There have been two subsequent editions (Jacobi and Hilhorst) and a German translation (Wischmeyer) all dependent on Bischoff’s editio princeps. No extended study of the text has been published. The present study reexamines the text and presents a corrected edition of the Latin from the original manuscript together with an English translation. An analysis of the latinity and rhetoric of the text shows it to be have been written by a highly literate author aimed at a pagan, aristocratic audience similar to the group seen in the works of Macrobius. The fratres are not the prime addressee of the text but represent a Iamblichan neoplatonic group addressed in an apostrophe within the text. The use of a mixed cursus in the clausulae indicates a late 4th-5th century date. The work is shown to allude to Genesis and sapiential texts, particularly Wisdom but does not quote directly from them. There are indications that the author is using Biblical texts that are substantially different from the Vulgate Latin and possibly dependent on the Hebrew. The Epistola also appears to show a familiarity with a number of works of Seneca; Naturales Quaestiones, De Beneficiis and De Supersitione. An intertextual link between the text and Augustine’s De Civitate Dei and the De Reditu Suo of Rutilius Namatianus suggest a composition of the text in the second decade of the fifth century, c. 415. This would allow the author to be identified with the Annas didascalus Iudaeorum mentioned in the Theodosian code as active on behalf of the Jewish community at the imperial court in Ravenna, and a plausible context is reconstructed for such a scenario. Placed in the historical context of late paganism, the text is interpreted as constituting a protreptic exhorting its audience to avoid the obscurities of neoplatonism and the inanities of the cult of Liber Pater and to follow a philosophical faith consonant with that of the author. It can thus be seen as an attempt to establish a Jewish-Pagan dialogue in the face of the continuing Christianisation of the empire at a time when this process was still not seen as irreversible.

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This Doctoral Dissertation seeks to find the No-Where , starting and finishing point whence the Neoplatonic philosophers - Plotinus, Iamblichus and Damascius - wrote, when faced with the Ineffable Presence of That One which attracts us with Its Silence and Who, instead of silencing, becomes loquacious indicators of that which hides behind that which is said and that which no language is able to contemplate without betraying itself. We will start by investigating, in Part I, Plotinus Cataphatic and Apophatic languages (Chapters One and Two, respectively) from the exegesis of Plato s Parmenides, especially its first hypotheses. Departing from Plotinus One we will analyze the enigmatic aspect of mystical language until we understand, with Plotinus, that it is just another manner for seeing that which those who contemplate the highest and whose mystical language alludes to, through grammar resources, such as the adverbs of place and superlatives, embodied through the language of Love, whose breach opens cracks through which we communicate something that is possible by means of images, metaphors and analogies, until we are forced to use the so called negative, apophatic or aphairetic language. Plato s Parmenides, as a turning point, united at a distance - the perspectives of our interlocutors weaving thus, in an invisible woof, the same we supposed existed from the very beginning, but whose name we did not know, but which revealed itself to us in a simple and instantaneous manner, because it was there, present, in each one of them, its own way. In Part II of this work, we will work the language of Transcendence. The very specific way each one of them developed a personal philosophical corpus departing from the hypotheses of Plato s Parmenides reveals that very thing that the dialog intends to arouse: the ascetic course both of the disciple (for Plotinus) and of the pilgrim (for Iamblichus). In its limit, the aporia brings about, in Damascius discourse (Chapter Three), an inversion, by means of which language twist and turns itself until it becomes utterly exausted when, leaving everything that had been aggregated to thought, we find ourselves all alone, faced with our nothingness. With nothing left, before the abyss, in this instant , hurled forward because we still had not found the No-Where , we meet Iamblichus (Chapter Four), which presents us with the chance of returning, no more by means of our own efforts, but, inspired by the Caldaic Oracles, through Teurgy as complement to Philosophy and not in opposition to it, having reached the limit to which the latter had led us, in the dialog with Plato s Parmenides, it promotes a shift in Plato s Parmenidean paradigm, revealing that which it was supposed to give birth to, and which was beforehand veiled, and which is up to the instant to reveal
Esta tese de doutorado busca encontrar o Não-lugar , ponto de partida e de chegada a partir do qual escreveram os filósofos neoplatônicos Plotino, Jâmblico e Damáscio, ao se depararem com a Presença Inefável Daquele que nos atrai com o seu Silêncio e que, ao invés de se calarem, tornam-se loquazes indicadores do que se esconde por trás do que é dito e que linguagem alguma consegue contemplar sem trair a si própria. Começaremos por investigar, na primeira parte deste estudo, a linguagem catafática e apofática de Plotino (1º e 2º Capítulos, respectivamente) a partir da exegese do Parmênides de Platão, especialmente a primeira hipótese. A partir do Um de Plotino vislumbraremos o aspecto enigmático da linguagem mística até entendermos, com Plotino, tratar-se de outra maneira de ver aquela de quem contempla o mais alto e que a linguagem mística alude através de recursos gramaticais, tais como os advérbios de lugar e superlativos, e que se concretizam através da linguagem do Amor, cuja brecha abre fendas por meio das quais nos comunicamos, o que é possível por meio de imagens, metáforas e analogias até sermos forçados a utilizar a linguagem negativa, apofática e afairética. O Parmênides de Platão, como um divisor de águas, aproximou - à distância - as perspectivas de nossos interlocutores tecendo uma trama invisível, a mesma que vislumbrávamos existir desde o início, mas que desconhecíamos o nome, que veio a se revelar a nós de modo simples e instantâneo, porque estava ali presente, em cada um deles, à sua maneira. Na segunda parte deste estudo trabalharemos a linguagem da Transcendência. A maneira muito particular como cada um deles desenvolveu um corpo filosófico próprio, a partir das hipóteses do Parmênides, revela aquilo mesmo que o diálogo pretende suscitar: o percurso ascético tanto do discípulo (para Plotino) quanto do peregrino (para Jâmblico). Em seu limite, a aporia realiza, no discurso de Damáscio (3º capítulo), uma inversão, por meio da qual a linguagem se contorce e inverte até a mais completa exaustão quando, abandonando tudo o que havíamos agregado ao pensar, nos encontramos sós e diante de nosso nada. Sem mais nada, diante do abismo, neste instante , arremeçados adiante porque ainda não havíamos encontrado o Não-lugar encontramos Jâmblico (4º capítulo), que nos brinda com a possibilidade de retorno, não mais através de nossos esforços, mas, inspirado pelos Oráculos Caldáicos, na teurgia como complemento da filosofia e não em oposição à mesma, tendo ido até o extremo em que esta pode nos conduzir, no diálogo com o Parmênides de Platão, promove uma mudança do paradigma parmenideano de Platão, revelando aquilo que lhe coube trazer à luz e que estava antes encoberto, o que só o instante pode revelar

Thesis advisor: Olivier Boulnois
Thesis advisor: Stephen F. Brown
The Dissertation Text has Three Parts. Each paragraph is referred at the end to the Part it summarizes. My dissertation places Saint Anselm’s Ontological Argument within its original Neoplatonic context that should justify its validity. The historical thesis is that Anselm’s epistemology, underlying the Proslogion, the Monologion and De Veritate, was a natural, often unaccounted for, reflection of the essentially Neoplatonic vision that defined the pre-thirteenth century mental culture in Europe. (Introduction and Part I) This thesis is shown through the reception of Anselm’s argument by 27 XIIIth-XIVth century thinkers, whose reading of it exhibits a gradual weakening of Neoplatonic premises up to a complete change of paradigm towards the XIVth century, the first reason being the specificity of the Medieval reception of Aristotle’s teaching on first principles that is the subject of Posterior Analytics (Part II), and the second reason being the specificity of the Medieval reception of Dionysius the Areopagite (Part III, see sub-thesis 4 below). The defense of this main historical thesis aims at proving three systematic sub-theses, including a further historical sub-thesis. The Three Systematic Sub-Theses: 1) The inadequacy of rationalist and idealist epistemology in reaching and providing apodictic truths (the chief one of which is God’s existence) with ultimate ontic grounding, as well as the inadequacy of objectivistic metaphysics that underlies these epistemologies, calls for another, non-objectifying epistemic paradigm offered by the Neoplatonic (Proclian theorem of transcendence) apophatic and supra-discursive logic (kenotic epistemology) that should be a better method to achieve certainty, because of its ability to found logic in its ontic source and thus envisage thought as an experience and a mode of being in which it is grounded. Within such a dialectic, there cannot be any opposition or division either between being and thought, or between faith and reason, faith being an ontic ground of reason’s activity defined as self-transcendence. The argument of the Proslogion is thus an instance of logic that transcends itself into its own principle – into ‘that than which nothing greater can be conceived’. Such an epistemological vision is also supported by contemporary epistemology (Russell’s Paradox and Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem) (Introduction and Part I) 2) In virtue of this apophatic and supra-discursive vision, God’s existence, thought by human mind (as expressed in the argument of the Proslogion), happens to be a common denominator between God’s inaccessible essence and the created essence of human mind, so that human consciousness can be defined as ‘con-science’ – the mind experiencing its own being as co-knowledge with God that forges being as such. (Part I) 3) However, God’s existence as a common denominator between God’s essence and the created essence of human mind cannot be legitimately accommodated within the XIIIth-XIVth century epistemology and metaphysics because of the specificity of relation between God’s essence and His attributes, typical of Medieval scholasticism and as stated by Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas. If this relation is kept, while at the same time God’s existence is affirmed as immanent to the human mind (God as the first object of intellect), God’s transcendence is sacrificed and He becomes subject to metaphysics (Scotus’ nominal univocity of being). In order to achieve real univocity between the existence of human thinking and God’s existence, one needs a relation between God’s essence and His attributes that would allow a real participation of the created in the uncreated. The configuration of such a relation, however, needs the distinction between God’s essence and His energies that Western Medieval thought did not know, but that is inherent to the Neoplatonic epistemic tradition persisting through the Eastern Church theologians and Dionysius the Areopagite up to Gregory Palamas. (Part III) Another Historical Sub-Thesis: 4) One of the reasons why Medieval readers of Anselm’s Proslogion misread it in the Aristotelian key, was that they did not have access to the original work of Dionysius the Areopagite, in which the said distinction between God’s essence and His energies is present. This is due to the fact that the Medievals read Dionysius through Eriugena’s translation. However, Eriugena was himself influenced by Augustine’s De Trinitate that exhibits an essentialist theology: in fact, it places ideas within God’s essence, which yields the notion of the created as a mere similitude, not real participation, and which ultimately makes the vision (knowledge) of God possible only in the afterlife. Since already with Augustine the relation between grace and nature is modified (grace becomes a created manifestation of God, instead of being His uncreated energy), God’s essence remains incommunicable. Similarly, God’s existence is not in any way immanent to the created world, of which the created human intellect is a part, so that it remains as transcendent to the human mind as is His incommunicable essence. This should explain why for the Medievals analogy, and eventually univocity, was the only way to say something about God, and also why they mostly could not read Anselm’s Proslogion otherwise than either in terms of propositional or modal logic. (Part III) The dissertation concludes that whilst Anselm’s epistemology in the Proslogion is an instance of Neoplatonic metaphysical tradition, the question of the possibility of certainty in epistemology, as well as the possibility of metaphysics as such, depends on the possibility of real communicability between the immanence of human predicating mind and the transcendence of God’s essence through His trans-immanent existence

La thèse vise à introduire, traduire et commenter le traité 6 (IV 8) Sur la descente de l’âme dans les corps de Plotin. L’introduction tente de remettre le traité dans le contexte historique dans lequel Plotin évoluait, à savoir un monde romain où le christianisme émergeait, mais celui-ci étant encore instable, plusieurs sectes s’immiscent dans les débats métaphysiques de l’époque. Parmi ces hérésies chrétiennes se retrouvent plusieurs groupuscules que l’on rassemble sous l’appellation « gnostiques », avec qui Plotin a assurément échangé pendant qu’il enseignait à Rome, puisqu’il a rédigé un traité qui s’efforce de les réfuter (33 [II 9], Contre les gnostiques). Dans cette thèse, nous cherchons donc à déterminer l’apport des gnostiques dans le traité 6 (IV 8), notamment en lien avec l’idée principale que Plotin avance, nommément la théorie de la non-descente partielle de l’âme. Pour ce faire, nous présentons d’abord la mystique plotinienne de l’Intellect, puisque le traité débute sur cet aspect primordial pour comprendre la doctrine stipulée par le philosophe. Ensuite, nous abordons les points les plus importants dans la conception plotinienne de l'âme, ce qui nous permet de mieux comprendre la vision générale du philosophe. Cette introduction se penche finalement sur les sources de Plotin dans le traité 6 (IV 8), mais aussi dans tous ses premiers écrits, pour ainsi établir une corrélation avec certains textes gnostiques, principalement ceux appartenant à la tradition séthienne platonisante. La traduction qui s’ensuit permet donc de jeter un regard plus juste sur le texte grec, puisque nous avons préalablement déterminé à qui s’adressait Plotin dans son traité. Le commentaire élaboré couvre enfin la totalité des huit chapitres et explique le texte ligne par ligne en insistant sur les liens qui peuvent être faits avec les différents courants de pensée
The thesis aims to introduce, translate in French and comment Plotinus’s treatise 6 (IV 8) On the Descent of Soul into Bodies. The introduction elaborates on the historical context in which Plotinus was teaching, namely a Roman Empire overruned by an emergent christianism, yet instable, since many sectaries interfered in the metaphysical debates in vigour at the moment. Among these Christian heresies can be found a plethor of groupuscules reassembled under the aegis of the name « Gnostics », with whom Plotinus assuredly debated while he was teaching at Rome, since he dedicated a treatise to refute them (33 [II 9] Against the Gnostics). Therefore, this thesis endeavours to determinate the Gnostic contribution to treatise 6 (IV 8) with a particular focus on the main theme that Plotinus put forward, namely the theory of the partial non-descent of the soul. To do so, we firstly present the plotinian mystic of the Intellect, since the treatise begins with this primordial aspect for the understanding of the neoplatonician doctrine. Secondly, we then address the principal points of Plotinus’s psychology, which allows us to grasp a general view of the neoplatonician conception. Thirdly, we finally examine Plotinus’s sources not only in treatise 6 (IV 8), but also in all his first writings, so that we can put them in relation with some Gnostics texts, especially with those called the platonizing sethians. Thus, the following translation is more accurate in regards of the Greek text, as beforehand we identified the interlocutors of Plotinus in his treatise. Finally, the elaborated commentary which covers the whole eight chapters provides a line-by-line explanation focusing on the link between this very treatise and the other currents of thought

Cette thèse se propose de donner une synthèse générale du système du néoplatonicien Jamblique de Chalcis, acteur important de l’évolution de la métaphysique grecque durant l’âge antique tardif. Elle reconstruit tour à tour sa doctrine psychologique, sa hiérarchie des êtres et quelques-uns de ses concepts fondamentaux, en mettant l’accent sur l’histoire des idées entre le fondateur de l’école, Plotin, et la naissance de l’école néoplatonicienne d’Athènes. L’ensemble des œuvres laissées par Jamblique est exploité, ainsi que les quelque 800 fragments et témoignages sur sa vie et sa doctrine laissés par les auteurs postérieurs. Les influences subies sont analysées et replacées en contexte : néoplatonisme de Plotin et Porphyre, qui donne à Jamblique les principaux niveaux de son ontologie, qu’il analyse et fractionne ; médio-platonisme, dont le néoplatonisme hérite des topiques philosophiques ; aristotélisme, qui lègue une conception dynamique de l’âme et une hiérarchie des puissances cognitives consacrant la transcendance de l’intellect ; pythagorisme, qui permet à Jamblique de concevoir les mathématiques comme un langage valable pour la description de toutes les parties de la philosophie. Par l’ampleur de son œuvre ainsi que l’originalité et la fermeté des solutions apportées aux problèmes traités, Jamblique crée une synthèse puissante qui sert de base doctrinale aux écoles néoplatoniciennes tardives d’Athènes et Alexandrie, et est profondément représentative d’un âge théocentrique, où l’âme humaine n’est qu’un principe dérivé, qui doit prendre sa place dans l’ordre universel des choses : une métaphysique de l’unité, reposant sur la dualité dynamique de l’ordre et de sa variation
This thesis strives to provide modern research with a synthesis of the system of Iamblichus of Chalcis, an important figure in the development of later Greek metaphysics. It reconstructs in turn his psychology, his hierarchy of being and some of his most basic concepts and philosophical laws, with a stress on the continuity between Plotinus, founder of the Neoplatonic school, and the beginnings of the school of Athens. The whole of Iamblichus’ body of work is exploited, as well as the 800 fragments and testimonia on his life and doctrine handed down to us by later authors. Influences received are analysed and set in context: Plotinus’ and Porphyry’s Neoplatonism, which provides the general levels of reality which Iamblichus tried to analyse and enrich; Middle Platonism, whose topics are debated in Neoplatonism; Aristotelianism, which accounts for a dynamic conception of the human soul and a hierarchy of cognitive powers beginning with the transcendent Intellect; Pythagoreanism, which allows Iamblichus to depict mathematics as a universal language, able to take the mark of all parts of philosophy. By the scope of his work and the originality and neatness of the solutions he provided to problems which nascent Neoplatonism had to confront, Iamblichus is able to create a powerful synthesis which acts as a doctrinal basis for the later schools of Athens and Alexandria: it is profoundly representative of a theocentric era, in which human soul is but a derived principle that has to keep its place in the grand scheme of being. It is a metaphysics of unity, founded on the dual dynamic of order and variation

This thesis contrasts the Plotinean attitude towards transcendence at the cosmological level with that of certain Kabbalistic authors of the 13th-17th century. Special emphasis is placed on the different approaches taken by each of the two sides to addressing the origin of otherness. Following a brief introduction to the notion of the question of transcendence, the first major part (chapter II) is dedicated to an exploration of the Plotinean conception of metaphysical "descent" from the One to subsequent hypostases. The second major part (chapter III) focuses on Kabbalistic conceptions of the descent from the indefinite infinite to the finite (limited) realm. Finally, I attempt to illustrate the questions and concerns common to each of the two cosmologies. In so doing, I make use of semiotic concepts to clarify the contrast between the two models.

Responding to the absence of readily available models in Australia for thinking about Christian higher education, this thesis investigates what might constitute its foundational principles and distinctive character. The thesis considers the Western Christian tradition, the history of the university, and the contemporary experience of Christian higher education in the United States to identify models for thinking about Christian higher education. It is argued that a central issue to be addressed in developing a distinctively Christian approach to scholarship is the relationship of faith and reason, an issue to which the Christian tradition offers a range of approaches. The question of faith and reason has a wider cultural significance since, it is argued, Western culture is fundamentally constituted by the relationship of Jerusalem and Athens, in which the inherent tensions do not obscure an ultimate commitment to the unity of truth. In contemporary debates over Christian higher education, the concept of faith-learning integration is a central issue. Given the variety of definitions and models proposed, the thesis considers the approaches which have been adopted in the Christian tradition. The approaches of Philo and the Church Fathers to classical learning are considered, with extended attention given to the 'faith seeking understanding' model attributed to St Augustine. Drawing upon Neoplatonism, Augustine's theory of illumination explained why true knowledge was dependent upon divine revelation. Augustine's approach also held that 'all truth is God's truth', and justified the appropriation of classical learning as analogous to the Hebrews 'spoiling Egypt' at the time of the Exodus. The Augustinian approach offers significant insight into the role of the will and the affections in knowing, and justifies belief as a reliance upon authority. While Augustine's is not the only model that might validly be termed 'Christian', and is not without its problems, it is a model which still has much to offer to Christian higher education today. The Augustinian approach has a profound historical significance since it established the epistemological framework for western Christendom throughout the middle ages. In responding to the criticism that the term 'Christian university' is an oxymoron, the thesis also considers aspects of the history of the medieval and Reformation universities, seeking to establish the extent to which it is possible for the university to be regarded as a Christian institution. It is argued that the university did not arise out of the rediscovery of Aristotelian philosophy, and that it is indeed possible to regard the university as a Christian institution for much of its history. The possibility of a Christian university today is thus not inconsistent with the history and institutional character of the university. The contributions to thinking about faith and learning and Christian higher education of Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Henry Newman are also discussed. One of the critical tasks of Christian higher education generally, and of a Christian university specifically, is the synthesis or integration of faith and learning, of which both Augustine and Thomas Aquinas were exemplars. It is argued however that, while the Thomistic approach can validly be termed 'Christian', it has been more successfully pursued in Catholic institutions than in their Protestant counterparts in which a central authority to regulate the boundaries of the domains of faith and reason is absent. A critical issue for Christian higher education today is that of secularising pressures, and thus the recent history of the secularisation of Christian higher education institutions in the United States is also considered. It is argued that the secularisation of these institutions was due particularly to the view of faith and learning which they had adopted. The study concludes that the 'worldview' approach advocated by Abraham Kuyper offers an approach to scholarship which is both resistant to secularisation, and consistent with the Christian tradition, particularly as expressed by Augustine and Calvin.

This thesis will explore whether Augustine of Hippo altered his theological views and what influences might have precipitated the alleged modifications. Augustine’s early "De libero arbitrio" argued for an individual’s ability to respond freely to God while his later anti-Pelagian writings rejected any human ability to believe until God infuses grace creating belief as his gift. Does his theology exhibit continuity or discontinuity? Four commonplace assertions within Augustinian studies are questioned in this thesis: 1.) Augustine changed his theology in AD 396; 2.) while he was writing the letter to Bishop Simplicianus (Simpl.); 3.) with his transition occurring through reading scripture (Rom.7, 9;1 Cor.15); 4.) which he developed through merely modifying prevalent doctrines. No scholarly work has researched Augustine’s entire corpus from AD 386–430 specifically analyzing his theology in the five final doctrines of: 1.) God giving initial faith as a gift, 2.) inherited damnable reatus from Adam, 3.) the gift of perseverance, 4.) unilateral pre-determination of persons’s eternal destinies independently of foreknowledge, and 5.) God’s neither desiring nor providing for the salvation of all persons. Only a comprehensive methodological approach—reading systematically, chronologically, and comprehensively through his entire corpus—can legitimately demonstrate changes. Did a Patristic consensus exist regarding post-Adamic free choice? What was Augustine’s contribution to this theology? To what degree did the combination of Stoicism, Neoplatonism, and Manichaeism contribute to his liberum arbitrium captivatum? Chapters include an introduction followed by chapters on free choice versus determinism in the: 1.) ancient philosophical-religious world, 2.) Christian authors AD 95–215, 3.) Christian authors AD 216–430, 4.) Augustine’s works AD 386–395, 5.) Augustine’s works AD 396–411, 6.) Augustine’s works AD 412–426, 7.) Augustine’s works AD 427–430, 8.) sermons and epistles, 9.) Augustine’s exegesis of scripture, and 10.) conclusion. Conclusions will be established via extensive primary quotations and references with supporting secondary sources.

Responding to the absence of readily available models in Australia for thinking about Christian higher education, this thesis investigates what might constitute its foundational principles and distinctive character. The thesis considers the Western Christian tradition, the history of the university, and the contemporary experience of Christian higher education in the United States to identify models for thinking about Christian higher education. It is argued that a central issue to be addressed in developing a distinctively Christian approach to scholarship is the relationship of faith and reason, an issue to which the Christian tradition offers a range of approaches. The question of faith and reason has a wider cultural significance since, it is argued, Western culture is fundamentally constituted by the relationship of Jerusalem and Athens, in which the inherent tensions do not obscure an ultimate commitment to the unity of truth. In contemporary debates over Christian higher education, the concept of faith-learning integration is a central issue. Given the variety of definitions and models proposed, the thesis considers the approaches which have been adopted in the Christian tradition. The approaches of Philo and the Church Fathers to classical learning are considered, with extended attention given to the 'faith seeking understanding' model attributed to St Augustine. Drawing upon Neoplatonism, Augustine's theory of illumination explained why true knowledge was dependent upon divine revelation. Augustine's approach also held that 'all truth is God's truth', and justified the appropriation of classical learning as analogous to the Hebrews 'spoiling Egypt' at the time of the Exodus. The Augustinian approach offers significant insight into the role of the will and the affections in knowing, and justifies belief as a reliance upon authority. While Augustine's is not the only model that might validly be termed 'Christian', and is not without its problems, it is a model which still has much to offer to Christian higher education today. The Augustinian approach has a profound historical significance since it established the epistemological framework for western Christendom throughout the middle ages. In responding to the criticism that the term 'Christian university' is an oxymoron, the thesis also considers aspects of the history of the medieval and Reformation universities, seeking to establish the extent to which it is possible for the university to be regarded as a Christian institution. It is argued that the university did not arise out of the rediscovery of Aristotelian philosophy, and that it is indeed possible to regard the university as a Christian institution for much of its history. The possibility of a Christian university today is thus not inconsistent with the history and institutional character of the university. The contributions to thinking about faith and learning and Christian higher education of Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Henry Newman are also discussed. One of the critical tasks of Christian higher education generally, and of a Christian university specifically, is the synthesis or integration of faith and learning, of which both Augustine and Thomas Aquinas were exemplars. It is argued however that, while the Thomistic approach can validly be termed 'Christian', it has been more successfully pursued in Catholic institutions than in their Protestant counterparts in which a central authority to regulate the boundaries of the domains of faith and reason is absent. A critical issue for Christian higher education today is that of secularising pressures, and thus the recent history of the secularisation of Christian higher education institutions in the United States is also considered. It is argued that the secularisation of these institutions was due particularly to the view of faith and learning which they had adopted. The study concludes that the 'worldview' approach advocated by Abraham Kuyper offers an approach to scholarship which is both resistant to secularisation, and consistent with the Christian tradition, particularly as expressed by Augustine and Calvin.
Thesis (Professional Doctorate)
Doctor of Education (EdD)
School of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning
Full Text

Samuel Taylor Coleridge used theories of evil and creation from Plato, Plotinus and Proclus to refine his definitions of the Trinity and the Absolute and Apostate Wills, and to move beyond the Germanic Naturphilosophie concept of self-hood as achieved by a self-objectification which emphasised differences between the persons of the Trinity rather than their similarities. His use of specific classical Greek concepts allowed him to propose that the Absolute Will�s self-substantiative act established unity and distinction as simultaneous and interrelated equals. From this, Coleridge investigated how identity and relationship rely upon unity and distinction, as he believed that identity is a unified self distinct from others, and that relationship is the unified common ground of many selves. My first chapter explains my methodology in dealing with Coleridge�s problematic relationship with both Greek and German sources, and describes how Coleridge�s philosophical investigations into evil and creation resulted from personal crises oyer his sense of self and sin. I provide an overview of the system Coleridge devised to address these concerns, concentrating upon the aspects which he believed clarified humanity�s status in relation to evil and the divine. I demonstrate how Coleridge accounts for the origin of the Apostate Will, and I explain his view of identity and relationships between the persons of the Trinity, providing a relevant overview that allows me to point out his use of the fundamental Greek concepts that anchor the subsequent chapters on Plato, Plotinus and Proclus. My second chapter examines Coleridge�s statement that Plato had formulated a triune creative principle, a concept critical to Coleridge�s need to unite God to the created universe. After describing the Platonic structure of reality and its divine creative act, I focus on the Platonic triad of Difference, Unity and Being. Plato�s account of these three principles and how they arise from the divine principle activity influences Coleridge�s view of the Trinity, what it contains in terms of distinction and unity, and how the Trinity arises from the superessential Absolute Will. I explain how Coleridge refined his definition of Christ as pleroma by referencing the way that the Form of the Good simultaneously exhibits plurality and identity. My third chapter shows how the Plotinian theory of the One�s will-based self-substantiation influenced Coleridge�s definition of the Absolute Will. I determine that Plotinus�s concept of heterotes (otherness) informs Coleridge�s view of the origin of evil, and I show how his concept of redemption is influenced by Plotinus�s account of noetic contemplation. My fourth chapter explains how Coleridge used the Proclian concept of Bound to develop the actualising quality of the Logos, in relation to Christ as a successful plurality but also in terms of Christ�s role in the redemption. My conclusion surveys all four philosophers to demonstrate how concepts drawn from Plato, Plotinus and Proclus helped Coleridge to define the Absolute Will and the way that its activity is the unity, distinction, identity and relationship of the Trinity. These three distinct yet related systems influenced Coleridge�s view of evil, as well as his understanding of the Absolute Will�s self-creative act, its relation to the Trinity, and the simultaneously fallen and divine status of humanity.

Kada je profesor renesansneknjiževnosti na UCLA dr Majkl Alen krajemprošlog i početkom ovog veka počeo daobjavljuje svoje prevode dela Marsilija Fičinasa latinskog na engleski jezik, moglo bi se rećida je započeo novo poglavlje u šekspirologiji.Neuporedivo veća dostupnost ovih,svojevremeno izuzetno uticajnih, a umeđuvremenu gotovo zaboravljenih tekstovadovela je do obnove interesovanja književnokritičkihkrugova za fenomen poznat kaorenesansni neoplatonizam, praćene povećanomsvešću o tome koliko je sveobuhvatan isveprožimajući uticaj koji je ovaj neobični ieklektički sistem misli ostvario na Šekspirovadela, kao i dela mnogih njegovih savremenika.Renesansni neoplatonizam, iako niranije nije bio nepoznat šekspirolozima, dugo je bio zanemarivan pri tumačenjima Šekspirovihdela – posebno onih „ozbiljnijih“ – kao suvišemarginalan ili, u najboljem slučaju, suvišeoptimističan skup ideja o harmoniji kosmičkihsfera. Detaljnije čitanje Fičinovih tekstova, kaoi dela drugih neoplatoničara i njihovih drevnihizvora, pruža neprocenjiv uvid u „mračnu“stranu neoplatonizma, ali i „mračnu“ stranuŠekspirovih „mračnijih“ drama.Ovaj uvid nije zanimljiv samo saaspekta tumačenja književnosti. Šekspirovodoba, koje se sada najčešće naziva ranimmodernim periodom upravo iz tog razloga, dobaje u kome su utemeljeni mnogi kulturni obrascikoji su i dalje u opticaju. Upravo su Šekspirovadela u velikoj meri poslužila kao provodnik zaveliki broj tih obrazaca zbog široke i dugotrajnerecepcije koju su uživala.Polazeći od pretpostavke da se bazičnimetafizički koncepti mogu lako prenositi iugrađivati u temelje raznih ideologija unajširem smislu te reči i da su stoga njihovoiznošenje na površinu i analiziranje posebnozanimljivi i korisni, ova disertacija za svojfokus uzima jedan metafizički koncept koji činiosnovu renesansnog (a i svakog drugog)neoplatonizma. Taj metafizički koncept jestehijerarhijska i gotovo uvek rodno determinisanadihotomija duh/materija, čije se „mračnije“manifestacije u renesansnom neoplatonizmučesto zanemaruju ili pogrešno pripisujuhrišćanskim uticajima.Cilj ove disertacije je da se identifikujuoni aspekti Šekspirovih dela – pre svegatragedija i takozvanih „problemskih drama“ –koji su u saglasju sa dualističkom metafizikomrenesansnog neoplatonizma, zatim da seznačenja tih aspekata analiziraju u okviru temetafizike, te da se time iznađu daljeimplikacije ne samo za tumačenja Šekspirovihdela, već i za bliže razumevanje čitave našecivilizacije, koja bi se, pre no posthrišćanskom,moga slobodno nazvati postneoplatoničarskom.Kao hipoteza se postavlja očekivanje daće dualistički koncepti koji potiču izrenesansnog neoplatonizma biti pronađeni nanekolikim nivoima Šekspirovih odabranihtekstova, od zvučnog, preko metaforičkog, doalegorijskog. Daleko od toga da ponudinekakvo konačno tumačenje Šekspirovih dela,ova analiza će, nadamo se, prosto povećati brojnjihovih mogućih interpretacija.Metodi koji će biti korišćeni sueklektični. Najčešće će se koristiti klasičnakomparativna analiza – s jedne strane,metafizičkih sistema dostupnih Šekspiru putemrenesansnog neoplatonizma i, s druge strane,Šekspirovih dela (pre svega tragedija itakozvanih „problemskih drama“). Stavoviautorki i autora koji pripadaju feminizmu,novom istorizmu, dekonstrukciji i psihoanalizibiće citirani, a neke tehnike u okviru ovih školatumačenja korišćene pri daljoj analizi. Uznatnom delu disertacije koristiće sefeminističko čitanje metafizike, jer jeutvrđivanje rodno zasnovanih hijerarhija istereotipa jedna od implikacija metafizičkogdualizma duha i materije.Prva tri poglavlja ove disertacije suuvodna, od čega drugo i treće pružaju kratkiosvrt na razvoj dualizma duh/materija i samogkoncepta materije kroz istoriju evropskefilozofije i religije. Koncept femininodeterminisane, haotične i mračne materije,suprotstavljen konceptu maskulinodeterminisanog, racionalnog i svetlog duha,prati se u drugom poglavlju od svojih začetakau orfizmu, dionizijskim i eleuzinskimmisterijama i pitagorejskom pokretu, prekosvog najuticajnijeg proponenta Platona injegovih sledbenika, sa posebnim osvrtom naneoplatoničare, do mnogobrojnih dualističkihpokreta koji su pod njihovim direktnim iliindirektnim uticajem nicali diljem antičkog isrednjovekovnog sveta. Radikalni iliemanativni, prokosmički ili antikosmički,dualizam duha i materije – prenošen kroz spise iusmena učenja hermetičara, gnostika,manihejaca, bogumila i katara, pa katkad i krozsamo hrišćanstvo, koje mu je zvaničnosuprotstavljeno – pokazuje se kao neprekinutanit u istoriji evropske civilizacije.Treće poglavlje bavi se dualizmom duhai materije u renesansnom neoplatonizmu.Eklektičan, kompleksan i imanentnoparadoksalan fenomen poznat kao renesansnineoplatonizam nastaje kao rezultat snažnogistovremenog upliva više tipova dualizma ujudeohrišćansku misao – Platonovi rukopisistižu u zapadnu Evropu zajedno sa rukopisimaneoplatoničara i hermetičara, ali i pravim, živimkabalistima – koji sa oduševljenjem prihvataju,prisvajaju i prerađuju tzv. „hrišćanski“neoplatoničari na čelu sa Marsiliom Fičinom. Uokviru renesansnog neoplatonizma može seizdvojiti nekoliko sasvim različitih i međusobnonekompatibilnih struja: „čist“ neoplatonizam,magija, alhemija, gnosticizam, kabala ihermetizam. Sve one, bile prokosmičke iliantikosmičke, imaju u svojoj osnovi rodnodeterminisan hijerarhijski dualizam duha imaterije i, u najmanju ruku, ambivalentan odnosprema telu i kosmosu, a u odnosu na samumateriju – odnosno, šta se sa njom može ilimora činiti – mogu se uočiti tri široke kategorijekoje se mogu ilustrovati kroz primerdualističkih alegorijskih tumačenja mita oNarcisu.Plotinovo viđenje Narcisa kao prikazduha prevarenog  sopstvenim odrazom u kaljuzimaterije poredi se sa gotovo identičnim, alidrugačije percipiranim događajem opisanim uhermetičkom spisu Pimander, gde je pad duha umateriju u kojoj se ogleda opisan kao kreativničin ljubavi iz koga nastaje kosmos. Takoantikosmički nastrojeni Plotin moli čitaoca dase vine ka pravom duhovnom izvoru svog lepoglika, jer je druga opcija pad u kal materije.Treća opcija, koju nudi prokosmičkihermetizam, jeste ljubavni spoj duha i materijeu kom superiorni ali benevolentni maskuliniduh svojevoljno svojim odrazom formirainferiornu ali prijemčivu femininu materiju.Ove tri opcije se ogledaju u Šekspirovimdelima u centralnom delu disertacije (poglavlja4-9), koji se sastoji od komparativne analizepristupa materijalnom i telesnom u, s jednestrane, različitim strujama renesansnogneoplatonizma i, s druge strane, Šekspirovimdelima, najpre tragedijama i problemskimdramama.Pojedinačna poglavlja središnjeg deladisertacije bave se mogućim pristupimamateriji, ali takođe i mogućim koracima najednom neoplatoničarskom putu krozmaterijalni svet.Taj put počinje u „Tamnici“, kojom sebavi četvrto poglavlje. Istraživanjeantikosmičkih stavova prema materijalnom itelesnom u Šekspirovim tragedijama iproblemskim dramama dovodi do zaključka dasu oni u skladu sa antikosmičkim učenjimagnostika, manihejaca, bogumila, katara, ipesimista među neoplatoničarima. JunaciŠekspirovih tragedija i problemskih drama(Hamlet, Romeo, Kleopatra, Lir, Gloster, TitAndronik) svet i telo eksplicitno doživljavajukao tamnicu duše, a često se takva osećanja ipoređenja javljaju u doslovnim tamnicama (kaošto na svojoj koži iskuse Ričard II, Lir,Malvolio, Klaudio i Barnardin). Mora seprimetiti da su antikosmički stavovi kodŠekspirovih junaka najčešće posledicanekakvog šoka ili razočarenja.Mikrokosmosi drama kao što su Hamlet,Magbet, Kralj Lir i Mera za meru mogu se čitatikao alegorijski prikazi neoplatoničarskog paklau kome vlada haos mračne materije, a njihovivladari-uzurpatori kao zločesti demijurzi.Primećuje se dvojaka subverzivnost – ureligijskom i političkom smislu – korišćenjafigure kralja kao demijurga, kao i činjenice dapomoć utamničenima u njegovom mračnomdomenu uvek dolazi spolja, obično u figuridoketskog Hrista, koji dolazi da probudiuspavane iskre (Vojvoda u Meri za meru, duhHamletovog oca, Kordelija u Kralju Liru).Kada se svet posmatra kao tamnica čijije glavni tamničar lažljivi uzurpator, samaakcija postaje problematizovana i lako se nailazina stav da je kontemplacija bezbednija i čistijaopcija. Tako se Hamletov čuveni solilokvijmože čitati i kao suprotstavljanje opcije „biti“ ufiksnom, nepromenljivom duhu opciji „ne biti“u fluidnom i iluzornom svetu stalnog nastajanjai nestajanja materije. Mnogi Šekspirovi junaciizbegavaju da uprljaju ruke i odriču se svega,između ostalog i ljubavi, zarad viših ciljeva(Hamlet; Vojvoda, Izabela i Anđelo u Meri zameru).Ovo se u sledećem poglavlju,„Uznošenje“, pokazuje, opet uneoplatoničarskom diskursu, kao potencijalnopogrešan korak. U neoplatonizmom inspirisanojrenesansnoj teoriji ljubavi, čiji su najuticajnijipropagatori Fičino i Bruno, upravo se krozerotsko dostiže božansko, ali uz bitnoupozorenje da erotski poticaj mora dolaziti odnebeske, a ne zemaljske Venere, i da ne smeimati za cilj brak ili, još gore, blud. Narcis kojise ogleda u baruštini materije mora znati da jezaljubljen u sopstveni lepi odraz, a ne u tu baru,i mora se vinuti naviše, ka čisto duhovnombožanstvu kome je suštinski istovetan.Analizom Šekspirovih dela se utvrđuje da seprimeri uspešnog erotskog uzdizanja odmaterijalnog i telesnog mogu naći uglavnom ukomedijama, dok je u mračnijim dramamafigura nebeske Venere uvek bar donekleproblematizovana, kao što je to Dezdemona uOtelu. Takođe se dolazi do zaključka da je erosdualizma po definiciji narcisoidan, jer je uvektežnja istog za istim – duha za duhom,razdvojenim samim od sebe Drugim materije – ida je ovakva idealizovana ljubav, bilo semanifestovala homoerotski ili heteroerotski (aobe manifestacije se mogu naći kod Šekspira)neumitno neprijateljski nastrojena prema svakojstvarnoj ženskoj osobi pojedinačno i ženskomtelu uopšte.Poglavlje „Enoza“ bavi se stanjem kojepredstavlja krajnji cilj dualističke erotskežudnje, a to je mistično potpuno utapanje svakeiskre u svoje božansko izvorište. Svrhanarcisoidnog erosa dualizma se ispunjava takošto se maskulini duh sjedinjuje sam sa sobom.Iako je nijedna pravoverna monoteističkareligija ne priznaje kao legitimni cilj vernika,enoza je eksplicitno postavljena kao ishodištesvake duše u Fičinovom sistemu „hrišćanskog“neoplatonizma, bilo kao ishod čistekontemplacije ili vatrene žudnje. Kod Šekspirase figura enoze javlja uglavnom u ovomdrugom obliku, i to nikada bez poveće dozeambivalencije prema erotskom. Antonijevdijalog sa Erosom ilustruje nekoliko aspekataerotske enoze: brisanje granica izmeđuljubavnika i voljenog, onostranu prirodu„istinske“ ljubavi, povezanost seksualnosti ismrti, konačno nepostojanje identiteta iništavilo smrti kao krajnji cilj i ishod svakežudnje. Ovi aspekti se dalje istražuju i ilustrujukroz svoje manifestacije u Šekspirovimtragedijama i problemskim dramama (Hamlet,Romeo i Julija, Otelo, Troil i Kresida, Mera zameru, Julije Cezar, Timon Atinjanin). Zaključakje da Šekspir uvek zadržava ambivalencijuprema erotskom i da se svaka erotska smrt možetumačiti i kao enoza i kao pad.Sedmo poglavlje, „Silazak“, bavi seonim što se zbiva kada Narcis, zavedenodrazom svog duha u njima, zakorači u vodematerije. Fičino i Bruno su u svojim teorijamaljubavi jasni: ukoliko ljubavnik napravi kobnugrešku i posegne za telom osobe za koju mu seučini da ga erotski privlači, umesto da se,inspirisan njenom lepom formom, vine kačistoti duha odakle ta forma potiče, upašće upakao materijalnog. Zemaljska Venera možepod maskom nebeske zavesti naivnog i nevinogljubavnika i odvući ga u dubine materijalnogsveta, naizgled nudeći mu mogućnost uzleta kanebeskim visinama. Za to je dovoljna jedna noćprovedena sa njom. Ovaj zaplet se može naći, urazličitim varijacijama, u mnogim Šekspirovimdelima: Sve je dobro što se dobro svrši, Troil iKresida, Mera za meru, Romeo i Julija i Otelo.U svima je dovoljna jedna noć provedena sanjom da se nebeska Venera volšebnotransformiše u zemaljsku – čista Dijana ubludnu Jelenu, devica u kurvu – i utamničizlosrećnog ljubavnika u telesnost braka ilibluda, ili, još gore, na samo dno pakla ženskeseksualnosti, u haotično ništavilo pramaterije.Osmo poglavlje, „Ništavilo“, bavi seupravo onime što se nalazi na dnuneoplatoničarskog kosmosa – ništavilom koje seistodobno otkriva kao neoplatoničarska primamateria. Ona je uvek feminino determinisana –u neoplatonizmu je Hekata identifikovana samaterijom, a figura Hekate se i umikrokosmosima Šekspirovih mračnijihkomada pokazuje kao prava vladarka paklenogdomena zločestog uzurpatora (Ledi Magbet,Tamora, pa čak i Gertruda). Femininadeterminisanost pramaterije ogleda se kodŠekspira i u višeznačnom i često ponavljanomglasu, ili slovu, ili cifri – „O“ ili „0“ – kojemože biti matematički izraženo ništavilopramaterije, ali i oznaka za vaginalni otvor.Ovom višeznačju doprinosi i činjenica da se reč„nothing“ („ništa“), uvek zlokobno značajna rečkod Šekspira, mogla u jeziku ŠekspiroveEngleske koristiti u oba smisla. „O“ je i oznakaza matericu u kojoj se ljudsko biće, potadašnjim teorijama, zdušno prihvaćenim odstrane neoplatoničara, materijalizuje od očevogduha i majčine materije, i time materinstvodobija izrazito negativan prizvuk. Majka je takoja doprinosi materiju u procesu reprodukcije,čineći nas time smrtnim i pravdajući čestupovezanost figura materice i grobnice(„womb/tomb“), kao i očajnički pokušaj nekihjunaka – primerice, Koriolana – da se odmaterinskog tela radikalno odvoje, što čestodovodi do nasilnog i krvavog vraćanja u njega.Neoplatoničarska majka, pokazuje se, čestoproždire sopstvenu decu.U mnogim tragedijama se junak suočavasa pramaterijom koja se pojavljuje doslovnouobličena u „O“: primeri za ovu figuru supaklena jama u šumi višestruko povezana saTamorom i vaginalno determinisana u TituAndroniku, grobnica Kapuleta u Romeu i Juliji,veštičiji kotao u Magbetu, kao i vaginalni pakaokroz koji prolaze Lir i Timon u svojoj mašti.Hamlet se spušta u tri gradirana ponorapramaterije u svojoj istrazi o tome odakle dolazitrulež u Danskoj: Ofelijina, zatim Gertrudinaodaja, i na kraju otvoreni grob u koji uskače.Suočavanje sa materijalnom osnovom kosmosa,premda u tragedijama uglavnom najviše služitome da ilustruje paklene dubine do kojih sejunak i/ili njegov svet srozao, može dovestijunaka i do neke vrste regeneracije i ponovnogrođenja, kao što je slučaj sa Lirom.Suočavanje sa neformiranom materijommože dovesti neoplatoničarskog junaka i doprokosmičkih tendencija: može poželeti da u tajmračni haos unese red i lepotu forme iz višihkosmičkih sfera. Time se bavi poslednjepoglavlje centralnog dela disertacije, nazvano„Teurgija“. Narativ iz Pimandera oprimordijalnom duhovnom Čoveku kojiogledanjem u njenim tamnim vodamasvojevoljno daje formu voljenoj materijalnojPrirodi je, u kombinaciji sa Jamblihovomteorijom teurgije, dao podsticaj Fičinu daosmisli sopstvenu, i pored svog stalnoambivalentnog stava prema bilo kakvojinterakciji maskulinog duha sa femininommaterijom. Teurgija – koja može obuhvatatirituale, praktičnu magiju i alhemiju, ali i druganeimenovana delanja – nalazi se naprokosmičkom ekstremu neoplatonizma, kaoaktivan napor svakog pojedinca da uvede red ukosmos i, kao demijurg, i sam formira materijukoja mu je na raspolaganju.Kod Šekspira se primeri uspešneteurgije uglavnom mogu naći u kasnijimkomadima (takozvanim „romansama“), doktragedije i problemske drame obično prikazujuobrnut proces, u kome se kosmos svodi na haospramaterije. Ubijanje ili uklanjanje uspešnihteurga, koji održavaju red na svim nivoima –pojedinac, država, kosmos – dovodi do padačitavog domena u haos, kao što se može videti uMeri za meru, Hamletu i Magbetu. Figurauspešnog teurga ili maga oslikava se kaoneoplatoničarsko sunce koje oplođava i formiramrtvu materiju, dajući joj život, kao što je slučajsa solarnim kraljem Dankanom. Uspešan teurgje dobar kralj, otac, oličenje božanstva, što seistražuje kroz metaforu kovanja novca, koje,kao davanje svog lika i forme bezobličnommetalu, kao pravo pripada upravo ovimfigurama. Lirova izjava da sme da kuje novacpošto je on kralj se, međutim, može čitati i kaoizjava bilo kog teurgijski nastrojenog pojedinca,jer po metafizici prokosmičkih struja uneoplatonizmu svaka iskra duha ima pravo iobavezu da formira materiju po svomuzvišenom liku i uvodi poredak u nju.Prokosmički dualizam se time pokazuje kaopotencijalno politički i religijski čaksubverzivniji od antikosmičkog.Teurgija kao koncept je, dalje seprimećuje, ugrađena u nekolike diskriminatorneideologije: mag može figurirati kao kolonizatorkoji civilizuje inferiornije, telesnije,materijalnije „varvare“ ili kao krotitelj, opet,inferiornijih, telesnijih, materijalnijih žena. UBuri se, recimo, jasno vide oba procesa, kao iparadoks po kome je muškarac koji menja ikontroliše prirodu (Prospero) moćni mag, dok ježena koja čini to isto (Sikoraks) zlokobnaveštica.Ženske figure se u slikama vezanim zateurgiju javljaju u dve najčešće varijante. Uprvoj su predstavnice feminine materije, koja uprokosmizmu može biti „dobra“ ukoliko jedovoljno poslušna i prijemčiva kontroli iformiranju od strane maskulinog duha, koji timepostaje direktno odgovoran za nju, što dovodido pojačane anksioznosti. Neposlušna materijaje kod Šekspira često predstavljena kroz figureneposlušnih žena. Analiziraju se zanimljiveslike u kojima se pobuna kćerki (Šajlokove iLirovih) opisuje kao pobuna materijalnog itelesnog protiv duha koji daje život.Potencijalno neposlušna žena, doživljena kaopreviše materijalna i telesna jer aktivnimiskazivanjem ljubavi pre braka (Dezdemona,Julija, Kordelija) daje signal ocu i/ili mužu dajoj je požuda preča od dužnosti, može bitiodbačena, i tu se oslikava druga varijantaženske figure – kao spone kosmosa.Naime, Šekspirovi junaci, koji usledimanentne paradoksalnosti neoplatonizmanikada ne mogu znati kako se odnositi premaženskim figurama, često prave i grešku upravosuprotnu, ali isto tako fatalnu, kao što je padpred požudom zemaljske Venere, a to jeodbacivanje ženske ljubavi iz straha da je upitanju puka požuda. Ispostavlja se da je taljubav, kao što je slučaj u Kralju Liru i Otelu,ali i Zimskoj bajci, bila neoplatoničarski zlatnilanac ljubavi, spona kosmosa, koja ga je držalau harmoniji, a da bez nje haos pramaterijeponovo dolazi. Šekspir ovime dekonstruišedihotomiju ljubav/dužnost, i to koristećineoplatoničarsku metafiziku, u kojoj su obapojma sinonimi za harmoniju kosmosa kojuodržava uzvišena božanska ljubav. Kodelijinodgovor Liru da ga voli „according to my bond“(dužnost i spona su samo neka od mogućihznačenja ove reči) time dobija dodatne mogućeinterpretacije.Još jedna dihotomija koju Šekspirdekonstruiše upravo putem neoplatoničarskemetafizike jeste, u njegovo doba popularna,umetnost/priroda. Umetnost se – u smislu svegaumetnog i artificijelnog i svakog umeća, veštinei delanja koje uređuje i menja datost – čestosuprotstavljala „Bogom danoj“ prirodi upokatkad žestokim debatama, od kojih su nekeumele da potkače i pozorište. Ono po čemu seneoplatonizam razlikuje od pravovernihmonoteizama jeste, između ostalog, dvojakostshvatanja prirode i neinsistiranje na njenojnormativnosti. Dve prirode u neoplatonizmu,viša i niža, duhovna i materijalna, aktivna ipasivna, korespondiraju sa Venerom i Hekatom,a ova podvojenost prirode se najizrazitijeispoljava u Kralju Liru, ali se njenemanifestacije mogu naći i u Hamletu i Magbetu.Viša priroda koja kultiviše nižu kao što vrtlarkultiviše vrt – što je česta figura, kako kodrenesansnih neoplatoničara, tako i kod Šekspira– poistovećuje se sa umetnošću.Pozorišna umetnost kao ogledalo prirodeu Hamletovoj izjavi može se uneoplatoničarskom ključu čitati i kao teurgijskoupodobljavanje niže prirode višoj, a ne samokao puki mimetski prikaz čulne stvarnosti.Dramaturg se tako pokazuje kao teurg kojionom materijom koja mu je na raspolaganjumanipuliše e da bi i nju (svoje glumce,scenografiju i pozorište) i publiku transformisaoi preuredio po liku više prirode koja je njemu,po platoničarskim teorijama božanske poetskeinspiracije, dostupnija. Dok u tragedijamateurgijske umetničke tendencije ostajuneispoljene, a njihovi nesuđeni agenti (kao štosu Lavinija u Titu Androniku i Kasio iDezdemona u Otelu) obogaljeni i/ili ubijeni,usled čega kosmos ponovo postaje haos, uromansama se pojavljuju i uspešni umetniciteurzi.Paulina u Zimskoj bajci i Prospero u Burisu možda najbolji primeri, koji svojim„nadilaženjem“ prirode i ukazivanjem na višuistinu putem pozorišne iluzije pokazuju da jedramaturg verodostojniji stvaralac oddemijurga.Posle kratke rekapitulacijeparadoksalnih i često međusobnonekompatibilnih tumačenja Šekspirovih dela naosnovu aspekata metafizičkog dualizmapreuzetog iz renesansnog neoplatonizma, uzaključku ove disertacije predlaže se detaljnije idublje izučavanje uticaja neoplatoničarskogkoncepta materije, kao i dihotomijeduh/materija, na dalju književnost i kulturu.Ovo bi moglo da ima implikacije za studijeknjiževnosti, ali i studije kulture, rodne i kvirstudije.
We have in the past two decades, owingto the recently appearing translations of Ficino’sworks into English, witnessed a revival ofinterest in the phenomenon known asRenaissance Neoplatonism. Although notunknown to Shakespearologists, RenaissanceNeoplatonism has long been neglected ininterpretations of Shakespeare’s works –especially the “darker” ones – as an overlymarginal, eccentric, or optimistic concoction ofnotions on the harmony of the spheres. A deeperreading of Ficino’s texts, as well as those ofother Renaissance Neoplatonists and theirancient sources, offers an invaluable insight intothe “dark” sides of both Neoplatonism andShakespeare’s “darker” plays.This insight is also intriguing for areasof research other than literary criticism. It was in Shakespeare’s age – now usually referred toas the early modern period precisely for thisreason – that many of our own current culturalpatterns were shaped, and Shakespeare’s workscertainly served as one conduit. Using as itsstarting point the assumption that basicmetaphysical concepts can with great ease betransferred over time and space and built intothe foundations of differing ideologies in thebroadest sense of the word, and that unearthingand analyzing them is therefore an especiallyrewarding and useful endeavor, this dissertationchooses to focus on a metaphysical conceptwhich lies at the very basis of (Renaissance)Neoplatonism. The metaphysical concept inquestion is the nearly invariably gendered andhierarchized spirit/matter dichotomy, whosemore sinister and “darker” manifestations inRenaissance Neoplatonism have frequently beenneglected or misattributed to Christianinfluences.The aim of this dissertation is to identifythose facets of Shakespeare’s darker plays –primarily his tragedies and “problem plays” –that resonate well with the dualistic traditionsextant in Renaissance Neoplatonism, analyzetheir possible meanings within the contextsoffered by these religious and philosophicalsystems, and hopefully discover their furtherimplications for understanding bothShakespeare and certain aspects of so-calledWestern cultures. The hypothesis is that thedualistic concepts derived from RenaissanceNeoplatonism will resonate well with parts ofShakespeare’s work, revealing in theiroriginative context further notions illuminatingfurther meanings attributable to Shakespeare’stext and our cultural atmosphere, many of whichwill be paradoxical and contradictory – muchlike Renaissance Neoplatonism itself.The central portion of this thesis consistsof a comparative analysis of approaches to thematerial and the carnal existing in, on the onehand, various branches of RenaissanceNeoplatonism, and, on the other, Shakespeare’swork, primarily his tragedies and so-called“problem” plays. The individual chapters dealwith possible approaches to matter and alsopossible steps along a Neoplatonic journeythrough the material world. This journey beginsin “The Prison,” where the hero experiencesthose Neoplatonic sentiments that are on theanti-cosmic end of the spectrum. This, manyNeoplatonists would hope, can induce him toattempt an “Ascent” towards the purely spiritualspheres. This ascent is often also inspired byfemale figures stripped of all carnality. Theultimate goal of Neoplatonic ascent is“Henosis,” in which the hero becomes one withthe One. If the hero is not careful, allowinghimself to be lured downward by carnal femalefigures, or if he is very adventurous indeed, hecan instead begin a kenotic “Descent” into thedepths of matter. This descent will allow him toface the “Nothing” of formless prime matterwhich is at the basis of the cosmos and his ownmortal body. Faced with it, he will, someNeoplatonists would hope, realize that it is thisnothing that everything comes from, and willstrive to help the spiritual forces in the universe,of which he ultimately is one, form it lovingly.This is known as “Theurgy.”As predicted, the analysis shows that thedualistic concepts originating from RenaissanceNeoplatonism can indeed be found on severallevels of Shakespeare’s “darker” plays. Farfrom providing definitive answers to questionsraised by Shakespeare’s work, the profferedanalysis, as expected, merely increases thenumber of its possible interpretations.It is concluded that the Neoplatonicconcept of matter and its spirit/matterdichotomy exerted a formative influence notonly on Shakespeare and his age, but the agesthat followed as well, our own included. Thisinsight offers implications for further researchnot only in literary criticism, but also cultural,gender and queer studies.

La modernité se caractérise par un partage clair entre politique et cosmologie. Ce travail cherche à montrer comment l’angélologie médiévale constitue le champ discursif dans lequel les significations, les valeurs et les énoncés de la politique et de la cosmologie ont été redistribués et recomposés pour aboutir à ce partage. C’est au croisement de deux problèmes théologiques, celui de la motion angélique des cieux et celui de la hiérarchie angélique, que s’opère la déliaison entre la question de l’ordre du monde et celle de son gouvernement. Alors que l’idée d’un gouvernement du monde (gubernatio mundi) régit la cosmologie ancienne et maintient une forme de continuité entre l’exercice du pouvoir et la connaissance du monde, la modernité donne à l’activité gouvernementale un objet propre (l’État) et à la connaissance scientifique un domaine nouveau (la nature et ses lois). Le passage de l’ancienne image du monde au partage moderne entre politique et cosmologie est l’effet de l’ensemble des transferts et remaniements conceptuels et discursifs opérés par l’angélologie médiévale. Le concept de hiérarchie (hierarchia) joue un rôle crucial dans cette transformation. En effet, c’est lui qui traduit la métaphysique néoplatonicienne de l’ordre en une théorie politique du gouvernement. Ce travail tente de montrer que la signification historique du concept de hiérarchie est d’avoir désarticulé la politique et la cosmologie, le monde et la cité
Modernity can be characterized by a clear division between politics and cosmology. This work aims at showing how medieval angelology constitutes a discursive field in which the significations, values and statements of politics and cosmology were redistributed and recombined, so that it led to this new division. One may observe, at the junction between two theological problems, that of the angelic motion of the heavens and that of the angelic hierarchy, how the question of world order and that of world government split. Whereas the idea of a world governement (gubernatio mundi) rules the ancient cosmology and maintains a form of continuity between the exercise of power and the knowledge of the world, modernity gives governmental activity a proper object (the State) and scientific knowledge a new field (nature and its laws). The shift from the ancient image of the world to the modern division between politics and cosmology is the result of all the conceptuel and discursive transfers and reshuffles operated by medieval angelology. The concept of hierarchy (hierarchia) plays a crucial part in this tranformation. Indeed, it reframes the neoplatonic metaphysics of order into a political theory of government. This work tries to show that the historical signification of the concept of hierarchy is that it has dismantled politics and cosmology, the world and the city-state

The philosophical contributions of Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) to the intellectual legacy of the Italian Renaissance cannot be overstated; Ficino’s name has become synonymous with Florentine Neoplatonism, and his philosophy of love and systematic defence of the immortality of individual souls has made Ficino one of the most recognised and influential thinkers of the fifteenth century. As the translator of the Platonic corpus, and many Neoplatonic authors besides, the Florentine philosopher-priest was well acquainted with, and indeed, had arguably become attracted to antique notions of the origins of the soul. Situating the doctrine of the soul’s pre-mortal existence within Ficino’s thought, particularly in relation to his understanding of spiritual renewal, this thesis aims to provide a re-evaluation of Ficino as a religious thinker and how he understood the relationship between religion and philosophy. The thesis will thereby offer a more nuanced understanding of his contributions to the religious and spiritual life of Quattrocento Florence. Drawing on Ficino’s Platonic Theology, his commentaries of Plato and Plotinus, and his epistolary correspondence, this thesis adopts a framework which combines social, cultural and intellectual historical methods, setting out to not only establish Ficino’s doctrinal interventions, but to place them within the broader context of Renaissance theological reform. In so doing, the thesis aims to contribute to a scholarly reappraisal of how humanistic, vernacular and rhetorical theologies functioned in Florence, and how we as historians understand these theologies. Focussing in particular on the use of rhetoric, language, literary convention, and socio-intellectual networks in the dissemination of Ficinian theology, this thesis intends to provide new perspectives on intellectual exchange in the later decades of the fifteenth century, particularly in relation to the movement of ideas which advocate for religious and theological reform. With a view to examining the broader implications of the dissemination of these ideas, the thesis also reconsiders Ficino’s relationship to the Tuscan vernacular, and its role in his programme of spiritual renewal. This thesis moreover seeks to re-contextualise thinkers in Ficino’s circle, by highlighting their critical role in the religious transformations taking place in the second half of the fifteenth century, and significantly, in the formation of a new religious subculture. Analysing a number of Latin and Tuscan works, this thesis reveals the reproduction of Ficinian ideas on the origins of the soul in connection to contemplation, conversion and mystical union, as well as nuanced modes of communication, and thereby links intellectual exchange to Florentine spiritual renewal. The thesis therefore aims to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of the intellectual world on the religious, by demonstrating how the re-emergence and incorporation of new streams of thought, as well as the methods used in that effort, came to bear upon the religious and spiritual life. Contending that Ficinian theology fundamentally informed an intellectually driven programme of spiritual renewal and theological reform in Florence during the second half of the fifteenth century and early sixteenth century, this thesis therefore re-contextualises Ficino’s place in our understanding of the intellectual and religious history of Renaissance Florence, and brings an entirely new set of methods, ideas, and characters into this understanding.

Аналізується розділ великого вчення фундатора неоплатонізму Плотіна (ІІІ ст. н.е.) про гріхопадіння душі та її повернення до вищого начала, яке є серцевиною пізньоантичної антропології, до якої досить близьким є позиція ранньохристиянської теології.
Paper analyses part of the great teachings of the founder of Neoplatonism Plotina (III century AD.) about the fall of the soul and its return to the higher principles that are core of late-antique anthropology, which is quite close to the position of early Christian theology.

Notre thèse porte sur les In Platonis Phaedrum Scholia d’Hermias d’Alexandrie, c’est-à-dire sur le seul commentaire ancien sur le Phèdre de Platon qui a survécu de l’Antiquité jusqu’à nous. Rédigé dans la première moitié du Ve siècle après J. C., ce commentaire se compose de trois livres. Nous avons étudié soigneusement le premier livre dont nous offrons la première traduction en langue italienne, accompagnée de notes critiques et commentaires. Notre travail se compose de trois parties. Dans la première partie de notre thèse, nous dressons un tableau précis du contexte à la fois historique et philosophique dans lequel se situe la figure d’Hermias d’Alexandrie, professeur de philosophie platonicienne à Alexandrie entre le 435 et le 455 après J. C. environ. Une attention toute particulière est accordée au problème de la véritable paternité du Commentaire, que la communis opinio attribue à Syrianos, maitre d’Hermias, plutôt qu’à Hermias lui-même. Nous essayons de remettre en cause cette thèse en soutenant, au contraire, qu’Hermias doit être considéré comme le véritable auteur du Commentaire. Dans la seconde partie de la thèse, nous offrons une véritable monographie sur la figure de Socrate chez Hermias, tout en proposant une comparaison entre Socrate et le Christ arien, Hermias et le Patriarche Cyrille d’Alexandrie. Après cette monographie, nous avons abordé d’autres questions ressortissantes de l’analyse du premier livre du Commentaire : rhétorique, herméneutique, mythologie, physique, gnoséologie. La troisième et dernière partie consiste dans la traduction en italien du premier livre du Commentaire sur le Phèdre, avec notes et commentaires
Our thesis deals with the In Platonis Phaedrum Scholia of Hermias of Alexandria, that is, the only ancient commentary on Plato’s Phaedrus that has survived from antiquity to our time. Written in the first half of the 5th century AD, this commentary consists of three books. We have carefully studied the first book of which we provide the first translation into Italian, accompanied by critical notes and comments. Our work consists of three parts. In the first part of our thesis, we provide a precise picture of the historical and philosophical context in which the figure of Hermias of Alexandria, professor of Platonic philosophy in Alexandria between 435 and 455 AD, is situated. Particular attention is paid to the problem of the true authorship of the Commentary, which the communis opinio attributes to Syrianus, master of Hermias, rather than to Hermias himself. We try to challenge this thesis by arguing, on the contrary, that Hermias must be seen as the real author of the Commentary. In the second part of the thesis, we offer an authentic monograph on the figure of Socrates in Hermias, enriched by a comparison between Socrates and the Arian Christ, Hermias and the Patriarch Cyril of Alexandria. After this monograph, we tackled other questions arising from the analysis of the first book of the Commentary: rhetoric, hermeneutics, mythology, physics, epistemology. The third and last part of our thesis consists of the translation into Italian of the first book of the Commentary on the Phaedrus, with notes and commentaries

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007.
Title from file title page. Timothy M. Renick, committee chair; Tim O'Keefe, Louis A. Ruprecht, Jr., committee members. Electronic text (110 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Jan. 18, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-110).

Богослови завжди вважали вчення Христа самодостатнім. Але, обґрунтовуючи біблійні положення і розгортаючи їх цілісне віровчення, теоретики християнства вже з перших століть нашої ери прагнули виробити систему спеціальних понять. Оскільки ж це вимагало розвинутої умоглядності, певних навичок і культури абстрактного мислення, які можна було забезпечити лише спираючись на потенціал греко-римської духовності, вже представники патристики звернулися до античної спадщини, насамперед до неоплатонізму, за допомогою якого вони прагнуть здійснити науково-філософське обґрунтування своєї релігії.

Sous le nom de Jean Philopon nous sont parvenus deux commentaires au De anima, l’un en grec, l’autre dans une traduction latine médiévale. Ces deux ouvrages nous permettent de rendre compte de la gnoséologie telle qu’elle était enseignée dans l’école néoplatonicienne d’Alexandrie à l’aube du VIe siècle. Ils jettent aussi un éclairage nouveau sur la transmission des textes et permettent de questionner la méthode exégétique de leur auteur. Nous avons donc sélectionné dans ces commentaires trois sections qui concernent la connaissance rationnelle (le Prologue, le Livre III et le De intellectu) et en fournissons une traduction. Nous y avons joint des notes qui montrent le lien avec les autres œuvres de Philopon et sa lecture d’Ammonius, ainsi qu’un commentaire sous forme d’introduction. Ces trois textes permettent en effet de mettre en relief, au sein d’une même tradition exégétique, les innovations philosophiques, notamment dans le traitement original de la faculté représentative ou de la partie attentive de l’âme rationnelle (προσεκτικόν) qui traverse toutes ses autres activités cognitives et vitales. Il s’agit avant tout de rendre accessible une pensée peu connue de la fin du paganisme, influente aussi bien dans le monde byzantin (Michel Psellos), arabe (al-Kindi) que latin (Thomas d’Aquin)
Two commentaries of De anima written by the author known as Jean Philopon have reached us, one in Greek and the other in a Latin translation from de Middle Ages. The two texts allow us to explain how gnosiology was taught in the Neoplatonic School of Alexandria at the dawn of the 6th century. They also shed a new light on the transmission of the texts and on the exegetical method used by their author. Therefore, we have selected three sections among the transmitted commentaries that deal with rational knowledge (Prologue, Book III and De intellectu). Besides, we have offered a new translation for each of them. We have added notes in order to show the relations with further texts written by Philopon as well as with his reading of Ammonius, and we introduce them with the help of an extensive commentary. Indeed, these three texts let us grab philosophical innovations which appear inside a whole exegetical tradition, including those about the representative faculty and about the attentive part of the rational soul (προσεκτικόν) which goes through all of the soul's cognitive and vital activities. Our contribution mainly aims at exposing this unique thought that used to be influential at the end of the pagan era in the Byzantine (Michel Psellos), Arabic (al-Kindi) and Latin world (Thomas d'Aquin), as well as making it accessible to a broader audience

En este trabajo se estudia el caso de la cosmología del filósofo y científico Robert Grosseteste como un ejemplo de la notable influencia del neoplatonismo en la ciencia medieval. Uno de los propósitos de la cosmología de Grosseteste consistió en explicar la secuencia efectiva de la creación del cosmos. Sostengo que la explicación que ofrece Grosseteste acerca de la creación es una expresión renovada de algunas ideas de Plotino a propósito de cómo el Uno engendra lo múltiple. Me interesa resaltar tres aspectos de la estrecha relación entre el sistema cosmológico de Grosseteste y el sistema metafísico de Plotino: (1) Unidad de principio, (2) Mecanismos de generación y (3) Unidad del sistema.

Christians, Gnostics, and Platonists attempts to characterize the ethos of late antiquity (100–500 CE) as one that despised matter and the body. It operates within the assumption that there are four criteria which establish this characterization, namely an emphasis on the evil of life, a distrust of the sociopolitical world, asceticism, and an interest in the supernatural. These four criteria are evident in the Platonists, Christians, and Gnostics of the period. As Chapter Two reveals the dissertation understands the concept of ethos in the context of R. C. Trench's discussion of aion: "all the thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, impulses, and aspirations present in the world at any given time." In Chapter Three Plato and the Middle Platonists are viewed as bequeathing to late antiquity its world–denying philosophy which the Gnostics preached more incessantly than the Platonists and the Christians practiced more conscientiously than the Gnostics. The Neoplatonists were the Platonists of late antiquity. In the writings of such figures as Plotinus and Porphyry the hatred of matter and the body is boldly expressed, and it is only slightly less apparent in later philosophers like Iamblichus and Proclus. In Plotinus we discern a profound distrust of the sociopolitical world and in Proclus a thoroughgoing asceticism paired with an interest in the supernatural. In Chapter Four it is shown that Gnosticism was more unyielding than either Platonism or Christianity in its insistence that matter and the body were evil, and it followed the late antique distrust of the social world both in its elitism and in its view of martyrdom as an act of casting pearls before swine. Gnosticism tended to accept the asceticism of late antiquity though some of its adherents practiced an extreme licentiousness that was the counterpart of asceticism in that it approached the body as worthless. The late antique emphasis on the supernatural is evidenced by such Gnostic figures as Simon Magus, Carpocrates, and Valentinus. Chapter Five demonstrates that the hatred of matter and the body is also expressed by the Christians albeit with less consistency to their worldview. It can be glimpsed in the ante– Nicene, post–Nicene, and desert fathers as well as in the Arians. It is most notable in the attempts of Justin Martyr, Origen, and Arius to place the Son at a lower ontological level than the Father in order to protect God from the evil entity of matter. The late antique distrust of the sociopolitical world is manifested in the Christian view of martyrdom as a way of scorning a corrupt world, a view unlike that of the Gnostics. No one possessed this distrust more strongly than the Donatists with whom the later Augustine had some kinship. Many of the Christians tended to practice asceticism and the miraculous, the form in which the supernatural took in their case. The desert fathers can be said to be the most sincere representatives of late antiquity with their intense practice of both of these expressions of the ethos.
Thesis (M.A. (Church and Dogma history))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Au XVe siècle, le philosophe florentin Marsile Ficin (1433-1499) rédige un texte singulier intitulé De vita coelitus comparanda ou « comment obtenir la vie du ciel » qui deviendra le troisième et dernier livre d’un ouvrage médical de plus large envergure, le De vita libri tres, consacré à conserver et à prolonger la santé des hommes de lettres accablés sous le poids de l’étude. Ce texte est tout entier consacré au pouvoir apotropaïque et prophylactique du talisman ou « image astrologique », une notion savante qui apparaît en Occident au milieu du XIIIe siècle, et insiste tout particulièrement sur la matérialité, la forme et l’apparence de ces images. Ainsi Ficin développe-t-il un discours original par rapport à la tradition en se concentrant sur le processus de fabrication, discours qui n’est pas sans rappeler les premières théories de l’art qui apparaissent à la même époque à Florence. Ficin réhabilite la figure du mage antique dans le cadre d’une réflexion plus vaste qui met en exergue le pouvoir créateur de l’homme en tant que savant, humaniste et philosophe. Si le postulat d’une influence tardive du néoplatonisme ficinien sur la littérature artistique du XVIe siècle a donné lieu à de nombreuses études, il apparaît en revanche que les rapports que Ficin était susceptible d’entretenir avec le monde des artistes, et surtout des artistes-théoriciens du XVe siècle, demeure un terrain relativement peu exploré. Tout l’enjeu de notre travail se situe donc dans la triple interrogation que ce concours de circonstances soulève : quel rôle jouent au sein de la pensée magique de Ficin les allusions à l’art et à sa pratique qui traversent l'ensemble de son œuvre? dans quelle mesure la notion d’«image astrologique» qu’il reprend et développe s’est-elle nourrie de la nouvelle littérature artistique alors en pleine formation? et enfin, comment peut-on affirmer que certaines œuvres typiques du Quattrocento florentin relèvent d’un caractère « mixte » oscillant entre le produit de l’art à proprement parler et l’objet magique?
In fifteenth-century Florence, the philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) wrote the De vita coelitus comparanda, i.e. “how to capture life from the heavens”, which would later form the last and third book of a larger volume titled De vita libri tres. The latter exposes the means to preserve the health and extend the life of man of letters afflicted by their intense studies. The former deals with the apotropaic and prophylactic power of the talismans also called “astrological images”, following a learned concept which appeared in Western Europe in the mid-thirteenth century, and focuses on the materiality, form and appearance of these images. Ficino hence develops a new reflexion that focuses on the process of making which seems to echo new artistic theories devised during the same period in Florence. Ficino redeems the figure of the ancient magus by enhancing man’s creative power and his status as a philosopher and a humanist. The assumption of a late influence of Ficino’s neoplatonic thought on the arts in the sixteenth century has led to several studies but its genesis and its potential links with the artistic world and, especially his fellows artist-theoreticians, remained to be fully investigated. This thesis aims therefore to investigate the role of the artistic references within Ficino’s magic thought, the influence of contemporary ideas on the art practice upon his conception of “astrological image”, and the nature of specific artworks typical of fifteenth-century Florence, which seem to respond to both a magical and an artistic purpose